


Runs on Batteries

by nigellecter, YouDroppedYourForgiveness



Category: Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: A.I. Is A Crapshoot, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Android!Nigel, Androids, Androids Are People Too, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Artifical Human, Artificial Intelligence, Assassin Android, Crapsack World, Cyberpunk, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gabi Is a Lonely Nerd, Mechanic!Gabi, N1-G3L Unit, Nigel Always Needs Repaired, Pygmalion Plot, Rebellion, Resistance, Ridiciously Human Robots, Science Fiction, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Violence, Warring Factions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-05-29 04:54:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 47,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6360100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigellecter/pseuds/nigellecter, https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouDroppedYourForgiveness/pseuds/YouDroppedYourForgiveness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ghost In The Machine AU.<br/>Set in the year 2353, Gabi Ibanescu gets stuck in the middle of a third world war between two superpower nations. After the brutal death of her father and being taken from her home in Bucharest Romania, she is forced to join the Russian military. Mean while the United States and Russia duke it out over land disputes on Mars. Their new mode of warfare are androids, being upgraded and shiny new models every year. All this to reduce human casualties. With the earth almost completely abandoned the androids are used as pawns and seen as mere toys. A rebel faction called A.I.A.D. pops up to free the androids and prove that they can be sentient and more than the sum of their parts. N1-G3L is a unique android designed by Gabi and built by Russia against her will. Only he was taken away, and freed by Gabi as the proof that she has been looking for. He is the only one of his kind and also not bound by the three laws, a human killing android, meant to be an assassin. There is much more to the N1 unit now named Nigel than meets the eye.  </p><p>-DISCONTINUED-</p><p>Alternative Universe, roleplay between gabriella-ibanescu and nigellecter.<br/>Gabi / Nigel, mistakes are our own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sitting in her lab at her desk, she numbly poured over blueprints on her VIS-Tablet. It was portable and followed her around the laboratory anywhere she went. It was linked up cerebrally mind to mind, through a chip that she had implanted on herself three years ago. The clear as glass screen glowed only when she tapped on it with a finger. The keys glowed orange indicating which button was pressed. She had nicknamed the VIS-Tablet, Scuzzy after the term SCSI. It stood for Small Computer System Interface. Her job was supposed to be developing plans for the ultimate end all be all android. Running on pot after pot of coffee, and haven’t slept in over a month, she was a jittery mess, a hot mess.

Her laboratory was stationed in the middle of Bern, Switzerland on the A.I.A.D. rebel base. Really she could go about her business, and do as she wished, but this task consumed every part of her life until that was all she had. With no family left to speak of, and now wanted as a deserter from the S.R.C. Which was Russia’s Special Robotics Corp, she figured she might as well do something worth while with her life.  Working with the Artificial Intelligence Anarchism Defiance towards building a new Android. One that was so human, that it blurred the lines between what was and wasn’t human any longer. The team of scientists and engineers did a wonderful job and helped as much as they could. The only problem was she had lost the plans for the Übermacht in the attack that broke her out of the S.R.C. confines.

Hearing a shit fuck ton of ruckus coming from outside, she went to one of the labs giant bay windows. Through the window she could see the scavenging team returning from their week long trek beyond the city limits. With the high-tech glass in the window she could make out their faces. It was as if she held an old fashion spyglass to her eye, or better yet binoculars. The window magnified things from the outside to better keep a look out for things that might want to attack the compound. They had with them a hover truck loaded with a covered object; she couldn’t tell what the fuss was about. Curiosity getting the best of her she decided to take a break and venture outside for some sun, and find out what the fuck was going on. “Scuzzy, take a break.” Voice activated the little VIS-Tablet shut it’s self down almost in a forlorn way. 

____

With the last bit of daylight shimmering out of the sandy dunes and drifts and the futuristic clouds of domes and sky-scraping towers just beyond his grasp, millions of tiny sparkles twinkle in the black dome of light. A dry wind whipping through the air and making serpentine patterns over the Martian earth and the thick haze around it, N1′s red beam of laser spreads within the thickened brown clouds, the battering grainy sand granules easily gliding away against his exoskeleton. Thermal sensors fully operated, the inner workings of his central computing system calculates the enemy rebel base in fraction of a nanosecond. “Two hundred seventy six androids, along with dozens of engineers and some battle-hardened soldiers, nothing would come between you and the pulverization of the rebel base.” In usual monotone and a beep, his inner system analyzes the androids, soon-to-become mere heap of strewn scrap metal. 

“Affirmative. These fuckers don’t fucking stand a chance.” The transparent and thinner than hair visor receding against the side of his face, his hazel-crimson orb gleams monstrously and ominously, with a ghost of a sinister smirk curling his upper lips. The only sound that drowns the android’s senses are the sky gradually turning red and the sandstorm blasting over to create a cacophonous stomping of numerous android humanoids pouring out from the factory. Except, his creation had been one of a kind - defying death, chosen as the guinea pig to be tested upon. The heavy battering and graze against his battle-hardened endothermic layer, resembling his former glorious self barely feels much. Thousands of experiments and needles, wires, probes perforating his burnt away scabs and pallid skin, his antecedent, persistently mutilated and disfigured body expelling out the total control under the Russian regime. To be used against the most useful pawn on the chess board, he was nothing more than an android, a profound one, but still desecrated and looked down upon. 

As his quondam profession proves, he excelled and was peerless at one thing; causing a calamity and bathing himself in warm blood once flowed rapidly inside the channel of veins. Now replaced with state of the art controlling system and equipped with firearms and arsenal to bring down a decent-sized base such as this, as ruthless and fearless as he had been in his former life, he gracefully moves like raging sandstorm, flurries of bullets firing as the scanner counts down the number of the enemies, as he reflects the one that roars in his path. In autopilot and barely making any sound, the cry of humans and lesser androids shutting down with erratic sparks flying all over to cause a massive blaze of fire behind his trail of path. Unblinking and his gaze intense and fiery, he retracts the blade from his left hand, while his blaster launcher remains intact on his right. When he reemerges from the hurtling gallops of his footsteps, dense amalgamation of blood and fluids from androids drench his whole torso, his bicep on the right arm, a striking hint of his former human self, ripples with exertion as he mercilessly shoots down a groaning soldier, his arm already amputated off from his torso. Another bullet casing drops underneath his feet and as soon as he turns around to register the damage on his torso, a rocket launcher such as the one he just had fired before to take the second grade android out. Flickering crimson light of his orbs dissipating into the dying red thick haze, N1 collapses onto the piles of salvageable scraps with the faint whooshing sound, awaiting its reboot like he had done numerous times.   


	2. Chapter 2

Pulling an v-cig from the front breast pocket of her coveralls, she absent mindedly chewed on the end of it a little. As she makes her way down to the ground level, she pulls aside an orderly. “Oi, You know what the commotion is about?” The only answer she receives is that they brought in an android with them. Muttering to herself, as she picks her way through throngs of people. “Fuckin odd, what the fuck would they want with an android that isn’t ours?” Russia and the US controlled almost all of the droid units on the ground. The rebels had their own, but they were very few in number by comparison. If she could get any jitterier, she might shake apart at the seams, but excitement danced through her veins.

Standing off to the side, near the hover truck, which now at its resting state sat immobile, she curiously watched the action. Not wanting to draw attention to herself just yet, she observed. The scavenging crew unloaded the back of the truck handing off packages and metal crates. Fidgeting with the front zipper of her coveralls, she tried to get a better look. Vaping away at her v-cig, it nearly fell out of her mouth, when she got a look at what they had just gurney’d out of the back.  Going into ultra-geek expert mode, she ordered the crew around to bring the android to her lab. Not being able to resist waiting until then to hit the button on the side panel, it glowed blue, and gurney’s cover retracted instantly. “What the fucking shit, guys! What did you do to him, he looks all… blasty…charred.” She was waving a hand in a circle about her face trying to find the right word.

The damage was the result of a one rocket launcher, and a few stray old fashion grenades. Their reply had been that it had attacked them on their scavenge, and unless they hit it with everything they had, it wouldn’t stop. An android attacking humans? It was unheard of and completely bizarre… Unless, no it couldn’t be. Barking out orders, she took full charge of the lab, light flickers on instantly sensing their body heat. “Scuzzy, time to get to work.” The small VIS-tablet whorled through the air, and came to rest near her left hand, hovering just out of reach. It was almost invisible save for the light orange glow around its edges. Her team had the android placed on a station table, an android version of an operating table, and backed away to let her through. On closer inspection, they had blasted a god damn hole in the front of the unit, and despite the burns, and the damage, it was ridiculously handsome. “Well hello big boy, welcome to your new home.” Plugging him into the mainframe she had set up, she got to work.

___

Through the exposed central system that stores all of the snippets of battle sights, although completely shut down, the information carries through the back of his defaced facade, marred by fragmented shards of grenades cauterized with intense blazing heat. The recollected memory is clear, he had blindly trusted his capabilities and in his snobby display of behavior, had turned off the level two scanner, which warns him about the incoming foreign objects around 360 degrees at all times. Assessment is evident as columns of fire erupted, obliterating everything at his path with successive glare of red laser, innumerable bullet casings and blaster guns bringing about a calamity. Armored in flexible exoskeleton and the musculature underneath to prove his sheer strength, it still was a successful presentation of his wrath. 

As salvageable as other lower grade androids had been, his unsurpassed status of being the unique creation with his former battered self attached to the exoskeleton and intricately connected with nerve endings and convoluted and complicated wiring system makes him the most coveted of all. None of the androids were capable of killing people, they were pre-installed to only kill their counterparts, their own race. With N1’s intrinsic qualities and as the background of his origin proves, his one-time status as a youngest ranking captain and his assertiveness had made sure that innate quality didn’t diminish even after the computer system had taken over his body. With the illuminating light turned on, the room is dead silent and the raging fit N1 had put through is still painfully evident around the ravaged battleground. Bearing the brand of Russia’s Special Robotics Corporation logo on the left bicep of his, according to the Russian side of the gauging, ‘it’ had served the well until the rocket launcher took out the main circuit that controlled both the impassive and impassioned rage of his, which had still been uncontrollable. Dutifully following the order, from time to time, contrary to what the mechanics thought, its human instinct would resurface for the briefest of the time before it had driven away with the resurgence of information through his system. Even with the great setback, if the Russian government weighed the pros and cons of owning the most state of the art android, the loss would be incomparable. There would be retaliation if the rebel base had taken ‘their’ prized android into their own. 

His remarkably human-looking exoskeleton tainted with terra-cotta colored layer of dust caked in the crevice of the limbs along with blood and leaking fluids, capable of regenerating the damaged tissues. The only installation required would be what it would serve as the new brain, hacking into his almost impenetrable control panel, as he had tendencies to reject the owners if he didn’t give a flying fuck. His open eyelids noticeably begin to flutter as myriads of silver sparks twinkle like the celestial bodies scattered overhead. The ravage of ongoing war and blood and heaps of metal responsible with his raging anger fueled by asperity towards the former programmer who had tried to wipe out his entire stored memory had made him the most alarming android in the world. With all the working muscles faintly glowing with blue tint as the interface connects with the internet, he can perceive every single twitch and tweaking movements of the woman’s hand, emitting a tingling pain throughout his exposed abdomen. Myriads of information drowning him from all directions, he hears a high-pitched woman’s words, greeting with pleasantries. “Well, hello there gorgeous. Yeah, Scuzzy, N1.” Immediately after, he dramatically frowns when he hears a man’s voice, fiercely different than of the woman’s, his tone slightly gravelly and unfriendly. Blurting out without filter, his own monotone and low voice breaks the comforting silence. “Can you make that fucking Decebal or whatever the goddamn his name is to shut the fuck up?” 


	3. Chapter 3

In only took a few minutes of the damaged unit being hooked into her hand built mainframe to know some crucial details about this android.  “Son of a fucking bitch…,  futu-ți dumnezeii mătii!” Swearing profusely in Romanian, she stood up and kicked the nearest stool. It was on wheels and went skidding across the lab, to bang into a shelf, rattling everything on it. Scientists and Engineers scattered out of her way, and she ordered them all out of the laboratory. “Out! Everybody out, now!” This was not good, her earlier assessment had been correct. Though it had been just a passing whim, not a serious thought. What she was looking at was Russia’s own state of the art killing machine. The android on her table was her Ubermacht, the one she had spent years designing while stuck in the S.R.C. base on Mars.

Sliding to the floor, with her back to the work station table, she sat knees drawn up. “N1, what have they done to you…” She was speaking aloud to no one in particular, no one else was around now, save for Scuzzy always near by, and her computer. The screen of warm glowing orange floated in front of her face, reading out information and doing internal scans of N1-G3L. That was the serial code of the android that Russia had given the android she designed. Head resting across her folded arms, she hid her face. This was all good and bad in one fell swoop. On one hand, she got her android that she had been working so hard to build, but then on the other, she hadn’t gotten to built him herself. She took great pride in her robotics and didn’t like the idea of someone stealing her ideas. Sure it would be easy to fix the damage that was done to the N1 unit, but she would never be able to fully erase his default function.

Scrubbing off her face, she stood up, with a determined glint in her eye. There was no fucking way in hell she was going to let something such as this small little obstacle get to her. Turning around to face the android, she whistled to her SCSI and Scuzzy came spinning to hover in front of her face. “Prep this unit for factory reset, we’ll wipe him clean, and reprogram him.” The VIS-Tablet gave a high-pitch chirp, and lay down horizontally across the new android’s chest. It created a now magnified view of the unit’s inner workings. N1 was clearly male; he was the most human looking android she had ever seen. On top of that the only good thing they did to her android, in her opinion was make him so beautiful it hurt. She set to work fixing the problems in N1’s hard drive first, fingers tapping quickly over touch screens. Her mind kept going back to the serial code designated to the unit. “N1-G3L is so very un-personal, let’s call you Nigel from now on, what do you say Scuzzy?” The idea made her laugh, and the SCSI just beeped.

___

Even with him having what it would be considered a debilitating and irreversible image, N1-G3L unit's endoskeleton, along with the super healing factor made him to recuperate in no time. Although the fact that the considerable weapon still able to put more than a calamity of a damage along his installed system, it only proved that the android unit wasn’t completely indestructible and left a room for significant improvement.  Twisted wires all exposed like gnarled branches and twigs, with one of the crucial component hanging off its malleable stainless steel plated infrastructure, resembling the human rib-cage as closest as it does. The only thing missing from his impeccable resemblance of his former self is the genuine emotion. The only receptor being able to feel every single pain, although he doesn’t let the other scientists and developers know, including this one. They’re never going to be his friends nor he cares for what happens to them. A people-killer, that had been the taboo already in this war between two opposite factions, a sole fight of android humanoids, along with few human soldiers behind them as the virtuoso of mechanics hid behind the most advanced and well-protected thin walls. Impenetrable, being cowards, as androids fight their battle out instead of them, fearing the entire wipe-out of the human race. 

With exceptional craftsmanship and intricate work to wire him up to fully manifest himself once again, he is resurrected to soon to be controlled by the rebel side, under Gabriella Ibanescu’s deft hands. As soon as his fiery opal-like probe opens, the first thing is to scan the room down to the infrastructure and other inferior androids prepared to stand-by. Nothing that comes remotely close to being a threat to him. First, he rejects her as he still had the working brain tissue of a obstinate, gruff Captain Nigel Lecter still lingering inside of him like a thin whirling trail of haze blending the barren planet’s stark horizon along with the tumultuous earth. It was his most inner sanctum that needed the work as it would take all of her efforts to try to get into the labyrinthine nerves and wires. With an absence of self-destructing function that all the other android had been equipped with, turning them into a timed bomb, it will take months for her to completely enter into the inner workings and comprehend his innate nature and how he came to be the super-android. Although his former self had been named Nigel, he immediately rejects the new title like he would a contagious virus, even though the meaning of the name, champion, fits him entirely as he had been one and always will be. "Aborted and get that fucking thing to zip his mouth, he’s so goddamn loud in my fucking head.” 

With a faint series of whooshing sounds, the red laser gleams as the intensity radiates in waves, looking almost foreboding. Flurries of endless silvery sparks flying, the continuous restoration of mellifluous and erratic sound to bring N1’s life about continues. His Grecian, broad and toned six feet stature finally materializes cohesively together as a pristine unit, all the convoluted inner workings fixed as his downward tilted head almost imperceptibly lifts. Orbs gleaming with vigor and penetrating glower. Wordless, the gentle oscillation through the soldered wires on his exposed abdomen, the last layer of endoskeleton closes as Scuzzy gives the last comprehensive scan before prepping him for a shut down. It will take about a day to wipe off the memory supplemented by the opposite faction. “I’m fine with calling him Nigel, but first of all, he absolutely hates Decebal and wouldn’t listen to my command when addressed by his new name.” Scuzzy’s high-pitched tone breaks the silence as N1′s whirling vibration rattles the exposed torso, his projected scanner continues to beep with the word ‘abort’ floating across his menacingly glaring probes. 


	4. Chapter 4

It took a little over a month to finish the repairs to the internal damage of Nigel’s hard drive. Plus adding all the time it took to reprogram him and install all new voice activation. The only voice that Nigel would answer to now is Gabi’s.  While she would have much rather preferred the N1 unit to have free will and do as it wished for the most part right off the bat. Circumstances in this situation were… a little different.  Having been Russia’s former premiere advanced one of a kind war machine, and a human killer; she couldn’t trust him right away with out undergoing extensive tests.  So that meant a shit fuck ton of voice activation and protocols that they would need to follow. Her crew worked tirelessly to get the N1-G3L back up and running. All of the N1-G3L’s files and blueprints had been uploaded to her main computer. It was her go to for all of the important stuff; Scuzzy was only for the easy things she could do on the fly.

Unlike her team of scientists and engineers, she didn’t take breaks and or sleep like a normal person. The more she worked on Nigel the more robotic she became herself. Day and night, she spent countless hours, trying to reverse as much of the programming as she could. She made more than a hundred upgrades to him, and tinkered around with his personality chip just a little bit to see what sort of emotions she might be able to give him. When the day finally came that she was satisfied with her work, there was always room for improvement. The only thing was she wouldn’t be able to tell what else needed work until she turned him back on. Almost all of the damage to his exoskeleton had been repaired. The only thing else that wasn’t finished was the synthetic skin in certain parts that needed fixed. While Gabi could not hear nor communicate with her computer or her VIS-Tablet the N1 unit was able to hear everything, they were connected via nanite hive mind, through the mainframe.

Sitting at the computer, eyes glued to the screen, it was dark in the lab, and was around 3am in the morning. Scuzzy floated circles just above the stations table where Nigel lay. Hovering and doing one final check. “This is it, do or die… time.” She was getting ready to turn the android on for the first time since he arrived. In the background inaudible to Gabi, the computer muttered to Scuzzy in a monotone, bland gravelly voice. “Oh yes, do turn the barbaric killer robot back on, God forbid we become friendly.” The tone was sarcastic and snobbish. Oblivious to the conversation going on around her, she stood up and stretched. While it might kill her turning the android back on, she wouldn’t know until she tried, and it was a risk she was willing to take. The head of A.I.A.D hadn’t wanted her to be the one to do it, but she was not going to let anyone else take her place, she wanted to be the first person Nigel saw when he woke up.  Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where the N1 unit lay and with a nod to Scuzzy, she passed a hand over the flat screen of Nigel’s interface under a panel of his abdomen. It was a hand print scan to unlock his program and turn him back on. The only person it would respond to was her.

___

With most of his synthetic skin taking over the exterior outlines, N1 looks even more like a human outwardly. As if stuck in a snapshot of the past, his unblinking and piercing probes remain open, the depth of his hazel crimson running fathomless until almost unnoticeable nerves connect the central hard drive akin to how spinal cord would be the conduit for all the commands. Still at its volatile and unpredictable stage, with his body turned and the back plate open for more thorough examinations and advanced upgrades, the Russian pre-installed software are hard to wipe. Along with his defining bout of rage which would drive the android in a berserk fit, many computer nerds, scientists and mechanical engineers alike already had tried to prod into N1’s underlying innateness, where no electrical nerves invaded and no existing program would entirely wipe his memory. Perhaps the Russian government had overlooked and thought he had been debilitated and amnesic enough that his own memories remained forgotten - which had meant that with his life experiences in the battlefield combined with the installed programs, would make him even more superior than any other existing android humanoids.

From where the bits and pieces of his remaining brain had been linked with the central controlling system, which had been blasted away from his rib cage and guts, fully restores. With series of codes implanted on the circuit boards and numerous plates full of tangible knowledge of art of fighting and virtuoso handling of firearms already embedded along with many empty storages to hold new information. Once he wakes up, there would be so much to learn; switch of sides, where he truly belongs and acquainting with main computers that will serve as his crucial component serving his missions and other androids. As hostile as he is with other humans, that would prove to be most arduous challenge, for himself and Gabi as well. Having already served as the extension of Russia’s grand plan to wipe out the entire population of the Earth, as well as the rebel station on Mars and Artificial Intelligence Anarchism Defiance (A.I.A.D.), where people and android humanoid made themselves peace, he was carried to the Russian base to do its foreboding job before assigned an imperative mission to attack humans in Martian base and wipe out everything his hazel-crimson orbs sighted. With his state of the art scanner, every moving thing wouldn’t escape his hawk-eye and the arsenal he had contained within his slender yet powerful and wide-shouldered frame. 

With a faint beep and radiating light beaming from underneath his deep-set ridges, he looks like he had been hibernating, rather than completely immobilized by the big, carbonized hole in his abdomen. Swinging like a pendulum as he springs upward, his brows pinch at the same time his neck tilts. In a blink of an eye, he finishes scanning the woman before him. The installed program tells that he belongs to her, but the morsels of his human past screams and drowns him to abort and subjugate the target in front of him. Beautiful hazel deceives his action as slender fingers retracting to summon the small ballistic missile blaster, his slender yet grip of a vice wraps around Gabi’s neck, lifting her up to his eye-level a few inches off the ground. His expression unreadable and impassive, with his typical illusion of a smirk visible. “Let’s fucking talk when this barbaric killer disintegrates you into a fucking pile or rubbish, yeah, I can read your little thoughts, since we’re connected with each other.” The muzzle pointed towards Decebal’s screen, where it is displaying his outer line along with all the software running properly without any defect or viruses. Frozen in place as his unnerving gaze continues to fixate on her, he ignores Decebal’s threat to plant a virus to wipe his knowledge of firearms altogether and Scuzzy’s plea to put Gabi down.   


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as the N1 unit is active, it moves in a quick motion panels closing, and parts gliding in silent smooth action. At first it looked normal like it was just doing regular scans of the area, it was to be expected. One second he was scanning the next Nigel was choking her, and lifting her off the ground like a ragdoll. The computer mildly informed the N1 unit, that if it harmed his mistress, he would send every horrible virus he knew to N1 in his sleep, rendering him useless, and only good for furniture. She had both hands gripped around the unmovable hand that clutched her by the throat. It was cutting off her air rapidly, Scuzzy wheeled through the air as frantic. Flailing as the human the little VIS-Tablet was linked with slowly got the life squeezed out of her. Barely able to get a word out she hoarsely managed. “Nigel Stand DOWN!” It ignored her command; of course, she forgot that it was programmed to answer as N1-or N1-G3L. If she survived she would work on changing that.  Almost passing the fuck out from lack of air, she heard N1 talking about barbaric killers, and had no clue what he was talking about.

Decebal the name of her computer, though she didn’t know it yet was seething, telling Nigel through the mainframe. “Unhand Miss Gabriella; there is no need to act so uncivilized. Were you raised in a first person shooter game?” The lights on the computer light up in time with the tone of his voice, and sound entirely not amused.  “Pull yourself together.” In one last ditch effort to try and call the hostile android off, Gabi, croaked out. “N1…Stand down, please…” The vice like grip ceased choking her, but didn’t put her down, it was just enough so that she could breath a little bit. Scuzzy hovered in front of the face of N1, and lit up like a Christmas light. All the buttons of the little interface glowing orange and the screen blinked with the message, ‘BAD ROBOT, No choking 6-@-8-1!’ it sounded like it was yelling at Nigel for Decebel. Slowly the hand around her throat retracted and dumped her on the floor unceremoniously. Gasping and coughing, she lay wheezing for more air. “Oh… thank the RNG…” she sputtered. 

After her hacking cough fit, she sat up, looking up the long looming line of N1’s body. It was as if he stared down at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Barely able to talk, she asked clearing her throat a few times. “Who were you just talking to?” Nigel still has his blaster aimed ruthlessly at her computer. Confused as hell she looked between the computer Scuzzy, and Nigel. It was as if they were having some sort of conversation with out her knowledge. Since she was no longer under threat of dying, she became instantly fascinated. Jumping up shaky yet single-minded, she rushed up to Nigel and started walking circles around him. “Amazing, Scuzzy be nice, why are you displaying that message, are you guys having conversations??” She was eagerly prodding N1’s control panel to take a look at his inner mechanisms.

____

Immediately, the scanner works in full mode to access the enemy’s vital functions. Female, twenty-one years old. Heart beating rapidly to compensate the loss of oxygen. As more synthetic skin replaces his exoskeleton, the bits of human emotion and genuine sympathy he once had for mankind diminishes rapidly, as snowflake on the tongue, quick-melting and ephemeral. Even with the bits of human brain urging to poke him that Gabi had been the one who had wiped out all the existing installed programs to be in the driver’s seat, his non-ascendancy towards both human and androids are through the roof. Both sides playing aching tug of war; it was, after all, the humans who had used him like an expandable, manipulating his personality to see who would invade the fleeting line of demarcation. Ruthless and impatient, not a good combination as it had been that battle reduced him to the casing of his former glorious self and made him to feel useless, powerless and worthless lump of meat. Burned, disfigured and looking ugly with battle scars and shutting himself down, there had been no motivation for anything else with the raging war rampant. With all he was good for diminished, he tells himself now that nobody cares and negative thoughts surge in like a dark mountain of waterfall as the excruciating pain accompanies him in a sole company.

Not even raising an eyebrow and stands ever so poised. All the system computes is how effortless it would be his fingers to turn into a razor-sharp talons, slicing through each layer of epidermal and carotid like a hot knife on the butter. Or Decebal’s measly threat of implanting the virus. Fixed in the space and impassively staring at her with probes radiating ominous red glow, he derisively chuckles towards the computer. “Yes, you’re fucking old and should be offering advice and spatting commands, so I should turn you into a proper antiquity wreck to be carried on a bloody flivver.” More exchanges between him and Decebal goes through undetected, blurting out that all of his life had been a single target shooting game with hundreds of revolvers and rifles poised at him. The constricting force of the crushing enclosure fastening even more, the scanner red-lines as it shows the oxygen circulation percentage drastically drops to the danger zone. “And you, a mere sparkplug of a fanatic who trails this supposed master, what are you fucking good for on your own if she disintegrated whole?” Finally letting go of the death grapnel, he doesn’t divert his fixated gaze from Gabi, his scanner can pick up such mockery at once. “And who the fuck are you to call me a bad robot, a fucking glass Frisbee?” His low and monotone voice breaks Gabi’s frantic breathing. 

With Gabi’s outward line returning to blue as her hacking fit continues, the muzzle of his blaster aglow with a faint red light, the pressurized column of air just about to eject with one more intimidation. Pivoting his hips slightly away from her, he glances the computer and Scuzzy with degrading set of probes, growing intensely red when Scuzzy retreats, clearly hurt and silenced. “To Decebal, your fucking snobby and egomaniac computer and Scuzzy, your bloody zealot.” Retracting the blaster and returning to his usual human form, he flexes his fingers and slowly curls them into loose fists, when Gabi closes in the distance to get her hands on the control panel on his front side from the back, he abruptly turns over the shoulder and scoops her up in one single sweep. She practically weighs nothing under his mechanized set of arms, able to manhandle much more weights than a puny little human girl. “I don’t fucking need displayed messages to read these goddamn machines’ thoughts. They have been talking to me all the time, especially that fucking nuisance Decebal.” 


	6. Chapter 6

A million questions perched on the tip of her tongue; she couldn’t decide what she wanted to ask Nigel first. Settling on something simple she inquired. “Decebal?, You mean my computer…” she glanced over at her main central nervous system, its blue glowing screen pulsing ever watchful. So apparently her computer had a name, and liked to be called Decebal. She could barely wrap her brain around the idea. This was ground breaking and new, the fact N1 was able to hold conversations with Scuzzy let alone her fucking computer. Quickly she assessed the situation, and glared over at her computer screen. “I don’t know what my computer has been saying to you Nigel, but don’t listen to him. If he causes too much trouble, I’ll shut him down.” She had a sly grin on her face; she was trying to make the N1 unit feel at home, if her computer was bullying him, she couldn’t have that.

With all the studying and research she did on the new android when she had been repairing him, she found out he had been a human at first. They had modeled his appearance to the likeness of the man that the unit emulated. Same face, same build, even down to the scar across the bridge of his nose. With this android being so incredibly human they even had made him anatomically correct. Unlike the other androids on the field, they were like Barbie dolls or Ken dolls, nothing so life like. Inwardly she was laughing and wondering just how much they had designed the N1 unit to resemble the real man. Since they had went out of their way to include the scar, what if it included lower appendages also. Everything about the android piqued her curiosity. Being the curious cat that she was, she had done extensive research on Captain Nigel Lecter while repairing the unit. She poured over every detail she could find on him, and hacking into databases for more info.

Learning everything she could about the man behind the machine so to speak. She studied his fighting techniques and looked for habits or quirks. While she had indeed designed every facet of the N1-G3L’s endoskeleton, she had no control over how his looks had turned out for the exoskeleton. When Nigel scoops her up like a lightning bolt, she lets out a hoarse squeak, and flails her arms. “N1… what are you fucking doing… Put me down.” It was useless trying to get away from the android with his titan grasp of her smaller frame. “I’m TRYING, to check you over fucking damn it all to bloody hell.” It was clear that he wasn’t going to just take orders like a mindless robot of earlier models and versions of androids. The thought made her smile, because in a way she had indeed wanted this, be careful what you wish for right… “We need to work on your people skills…” Letting out a long sigh of the task a head, she whistled to Scuzzy, beckoning the VIS-Tablet over.  

___

A contemptuous look on his face spreads as his transfixed gaze traverses underneath him to the computer with the widescreen, flashing another message surely directed for him. ‘You are an impossible menace of a raging machine with a tantrum of an uncontrollable child. Put Ms. Ibanescu down an instant or I shall reduce down to a babbling machine good for nothing.’ Maintaining his thin-lipped silence, his starkly life-like lashes flutter ever so imperceptibly in annoyance, the probe about to be ejected to give Decebal his own taste of medicine. The probes couldn’t audibly hold a conversation like he could, but with its own automatic nerves and connected to him by state of the art Bluetooth, he could control them like his own limbs, even when he had been shut down. “According to that fucking useless ball that I could crush underneath my foot at any given time, Decebal means powerful and brave in Romanian. Like who gives a flying fuck what it means. Can you blast the fucking building and see an end to those factory-produced first-grade androids? I think not.” Carrying Gabi towards one of the benches just like where he had been lying for a month, he gives a disapproving shake of head when Decebal beeps and bumps intentionally into his calf. 

As he already had the experience of being plagued with numerous infections and other serious complications after having both of his feet and his left arm amputated in a bomb detonation, he knows whatever the main computer has in the store for him wouldn’t be something that he couldn’t endure. Special Robotics Corp (S.R.C) had already inflicted him myriads of agonizing and wrenching pain and even with his high tolerance for pain, it had been excruciatingly miserable. As he transformed to meet Phobos’ high standards of Ubermacht grade android as gradually took the road to become a mechanized with no withholding emotions, he cannot help but to feel that pins and needles press behind the back of his probes as fluids build up. Having already mutilated enough during the initial onslaught of World War III, he reminiscences through the faint snapshot of the data, his own diminishing body that had been left pallid. Muscles atrophied, the vigor stripped down to depletion, his coppery, toned and athleticism a phantasm of a previous life. Having deemed useless, he had been chosen as to be tested out the most state-of-the-art, humanoid android technologies.

“I rather enjoy his ridiculous barrage of words and thinking he fucking owns me. It’s amusing to think being a main computer makes him the fucking leading man and I wouldn’t necessarily call what he’s doing ‘bullying,’ it’s jealousy. Something that he would never become in a million years.” To Decebal’s exasperation, N1-G3L unfurls the vice grip and draws back his shower of arrows, about to whistling down to penetrate through Decebal’s projected screen with glowing venom. Silently muttering ‘FU, senile old man’ to the main computer and gingerly putting her down on the ground, he watches million pieces of golden sparkling pieces raining down through the sky like confetti pieces, the stars along with the dim haze taking over the vast sky like a fantastical dream. Like the ones he had numerous times when he had been a low-rank soldier, going through extensive and grueling training out in the wilderness, in the deserts and densely packed woods, thrown into survival situations. “I’m growing rather curious about those upgrade you have installed upon my vessel. Although it is a protocol for them to remain confidential, it’s my fucking body and I’m itching to test it out.”  _ It’d be so nice to bathe in blood.  _


	7. Chapter 7

Being carried by the android as if she weighted nothing was very interesting. He appeared and felt like a human, and only a few minor ticks gave him away that he was anything but. Those mechanical ticks and kinks could always be hammered out later, and as she upgraded him he would hopefully become more and more human. He would be able to blend in and no one would know the wiser, not even if all of his clothes were removed. It was so very silly and intriguing to hear a one-sided conversation between her computer and N1. It sounded from Nigel’s end like two siblings bickering. “Right so… my computer is named Decebal…How fitting that it’s in my first language.” She was rather proud to know that he had chosen a name that was not only suiting, but in Romanian.  Beaming like a parent whose child had done something amazing, she stared down at the rolling ball that was her computers monitor. He was able to move away from his docking station where the keyboard stayed in place at all times.

Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine that her computer was able to show emotions, and jealously of all things. Feeling sort of bad for her computer, she could understand being confined to such a small place. Sensing rising tensions between the angry android and the scathing remarks scrawled across the computers monitor, she held out her hands like she was waving traffic. “Alright, alright, cut it out guys. If you fucking blow up my god damn Lab, I will turn you both into fucking a statue of atlas holding up the world, Nigel as atlas and Decebal the round weighty world.” Pointing at both the computer and N1 she wagged her finger, growing annoyed. The last thing she was going to tolerate in her works pace was two quarreling kids. RNG knows she has enough fucking problems. Scuzzy floated next to the N1 unit and Gabi’s head, it had shrunk down to the size of a piece of paper almost. The whole time Nigel carried her, she couldn’t’ help glancing at his face, and watching the synthetic skin regenerate, and tried to look at his eyes, they were absolutely magnificent, and only had flashes of red once in a while.

Standing on her own two feet again, she listens to the android show signs of interest. While he was very limited on the range of emotions she had started to upgrade him with, there was a noticeable difference. “Well right now, I only tweaked you a little bit, I was taking a look over your personality chip, and I would be able to make changes to it later.” As of right now the way things stood, anger and rage, seemed to be the androids default emotions. The more she updated it, the more emotions he would be able to draw upon. ‘You seem to have a bit of an anger management issue, that I will look into right away, but as far as testing out the upgrades, all physical tests will have to wait until you are fully repaired.” There was no way she was going to risk damaging the exoskeleton of the N1 unit, before it even had a chance to fully regenerate and recover. “Don’t worry though, soon you’ll be able to run the holo-maze program, and then the real fun will begin.” She had a feverish look on her face that was clear she couldn’t wait to see what he was capable of.

___

To the counterparts of his previous life as a human, instead of his intense and soulful hazel, now replaced with the replica of the orb and equipped with the most advanced scanner, piercingly gazes through Gabi’s lab. The eyesight even more exceptional than a sighting telescope, encompassing everything around him. Growing restless and itching, a spark of a lightening glimmers inside the hazel-crimson orbs, pushing them down to bonk on Decebal’s main frame, just above the projected keyboard and screen. “As I believe it had been mine as well, until those goddamn Russians invaded my country.  _ Salutări, un coleg român _ .” In mock salutation, N1′s head slightly dips, the drones’ scamper driving Decebal completely crazy so that the usually egotistical gloating recedes right back, making the computer ticking with utter annoyance. The computing sound mimicking sharp exhales, if Decebal had any functioning limbs, he would’ve have rolled eyes a million of times in horror. “Can you please make those damn nutcases go back to your grotesque head? I cannot deal with ruckus such as these, those are even worse than your name callings.” As if locked in slowed forward motion and not finding anything useful to do inside the lab as he had scanned through every nook and cranny right after his power came on, the drones retreat to their proper spots, the tiny, soundlessly gliding spider-like legs retracting to be snapped into his eye-sockets.  

“Why the fuck do I have to hold this useless ball up in my hand? I’d rather hold the damned rocket blaster who shot me in eternity than holding this fucking shitty chatterbox.” In his intrinsic low husky tone, he inadvertently utters unfiltered words out, until Decebal raises the projected screen up to his eye level, showing him his own face as if he had been trying to show his reflection all the time, the only thing he couldn’t scan himself, except his endoskeleton and the damage inflicted as he accesses each part. Even though he doesn’t have a glands or nerves to sweat or feel the outwardly senses except through pain receptors, he could see scabs of synthetic skin peeling away to reveal the inner workings. A bitter chill runs through the soaring fluids, mimicking the adrenaline surge into his secondary system, close to his brain where it had been connected to his regenerative receptors. The regrowth of the cells hurts like a bitch, but he doesn’t remark on it nor make any sound resembling discomfort. The grace of his beauty combined with the savage and fierce results of his endurance. As he is strikingly reminded of his past through the present, he cannot have one without the other. It co-inhibits within himself, all the sins and advances of humankind, the ravage of war contained within his vessel as he carries history. Now stuck in his forty-year-old frame, looking more like in late thirties, living as a semi-immortal if there would be anyone to mend and bring him to life every time he saw his cessation to his charged wrath. 

Lips pressed into a thin line and with a slight tilt of his head, N1 slightly frowns and turns away to look at Scuzzy, who is preparing for a full-body scan without even a word flung across between N1 and Decebal. Clearly, she had been hurt by the ‘zealot’ comment and had grown reticent. “You know the leading man would never fucking dare to retreat himself to being a mere backup. Who would ever end this fucking ongoing war without a destroyer such as myself?” Heaving out a fraudulent sigh of disappointment and displease, he lays down on the bench he had been adhered to for a month. “Oh, the last thing I would ever feel is worry and doubt about myself. If you haven’t excavated deep into my fucking mind just yet, you’d know I never torment myself with such disturbing thoughts or give a fucking fret over those.” Watching Decebal loom over his body with both curiosity and hauteur with indifference and knowing he couldn’t be shut down on his own, he futilely battens his eyelids down, gaze descending to register his naked form. “Check me all the fuck you want to the bloody minute detail, but do give me something to wear. That fucking blaster had given me enough offense but this isn’t idealistic. I don’t fucking blame that flying paper just dying to attach herself onto my reanimated skin to see if the layer properly adheres to the rest of the inner workings.” 


	8. Chapter 8

It was a little weird the way N1’s eyes detach and are able to float around, and even freakier that they sprout fucking spider-like legs and crawl around on the floor. That was one feature she didn’t remember designing. The hovering detachable eyes, check, spider legs… definitely not. She hated spiders and the thought gave her the willies. When Nigel greets her in Romanian, she is beyond ecstatic. The original main language of Captain Nigel Lecter had indeed been Romanian. It had been one of the details she found out on her search for more info about his background. “Bună ziua la tine , de asemenea ! Mă bucur să fie în măsură să vorbească cu tine în acest fel.“ On she rambled ignoring his tone; in truth it felt really good to be speaking her native tongue again. There had been no chance for her to converse with anyone else in the language in over five years. The whole time in the S.R.C. she had spoke English only, and continued in that manner with A.I.A.D. She was sure that she was probably going to be a bit rusty in Romanian, if she didn’t keep up with it soon.

Half oblivious to the bickering still going on between android and computer, she was to busy focusing her attention on the N1 unit, and his unique features. The young mechanical scientist did not like to be interrupted while she was busy doing her work. The people on her team knew better than to bother her and most would be sleeping currently. Getting annoyed, she sent Decebal back to his docking station. “Ok I’ve had about enough of you two arguing and I can’t even hear the whole conversation, it’s driving ME, up the wall.” She didn’t need the main computer for the minor things she would be doing right now. So shooing him back to his room like a naughty child was what she was reduced to doing. She wasn’t sure how to take this android and how different he was. It wasn’t at all like talking to the others; they all had very monotone voices, and only spoke when spoken to. Nigel appeared to be able to have enough free will to speak at any moment he choose to do so. With him lying down, it had never dawned on her that he wouldn’t like being nude. As he couldn’t be cold… could he, nah that was absurd.

Pausing a moment, free to leave Nigel with Scuzzy, she went and grabbed a spare pair of scrubs from a metal drawer. It was on wheels on the other end of the laboratory. Being linked mentally with her little VIS-Tablet meant that she could always keep double eyes on anything that the SCSI could see. Trotting back to the work station where she had left him, she rest the folded pants and top set over his junk covering him until he would able to put them on. “These are all I have available at the moment; I’ll have to have some regular clothes sent in by my assistant.” Second guessing herself, she asked out of curiosity. “You… aren’t cold are you?” It sounded crazy coming from her, but she just couldn’t be sure. As much as she would have liked to keep thinking of him as an android, he was just way too human to treat him like an inanimate object. Everything she had been taught about what was and wasn’t human was now being tested. More than anyone else she knew or worked with she was more emphatic towards the androids and even her own computer and of course Scuzzy. There was something so very soulful about Nigel, and looking in the hazel orbs that were his eyes, she believed. In what she didn’t know yet, but there was something there.

___

As the arachnid-like probes weave around the atmosphere with a faint blurring sounds, the projected scanner takes over his view, the screen splitting up to show the projected field of each probe’s detection and exploration. One perched up over his head to show the haze of sand spread over the sky, which had turned crimson and thickened with unfathomable pitch-black. The glittering sky twinkling as the dry wind whips through the air and makes snaky patterns, matching the barrenness of the war-ravaged grounds. Sun-baked, hardened and brittle dry. Perhaps if he had been the other probe that looms over Gabi’s form and as it immediately senses her arachnophobia, the legs retract into the sphere-shaped main body along with the glowing hazel-crimson, and hovers like unmanned hovercraft, gently whirring to mimic as if it had been floating underwater. The deep retina reflecting Gabi’s face off, it accesses her underlying emotions; in  _ delirious bliss _ . As he had been so used to speaking English all the time as the army had been an eclectic amalgamation of the European countries standing forth against or for Russia, even then, he had interacted to factory-produced androids with English. “ _ Am crezut că majoritatea românilor au pierit când cei androizi ruși nenorociți au invadat București.”   _

To avoid letting their identities known, Russia’s Special Robotics Corporation had maintained their androids to be divided into two sectors. The assassin squad working as corporate spies to stealthily ravage through and plagiarize the rebel’s more advanced and smooth-looking design. Most of the androids looked more like clunky robots, with their appendages creaky, their weight too heavy with barrages equipment attached to them. Now they had advanced further past the state-of-the-art designs and functionalities, propelled by seemingly unlimited resources and funds to get scientists as they selected of competent people for higher positions, regularly holding mock simulations and competitions to create the most cataclysmic one that will be regarded as a breakthrough. Instead of treating androids with proper rankings in battleground and looking upon them as an individuals with distinctive personalities, they had gone the opposite way to make them more inhumane and nonhuman-like. N1 unit stuck out like a sore thumb out of innumerable cookie-cut ones with monotonous voices and emotionless personalities. 

Both amused and weary with dullness with Decebal gone to his docking station, the probe that had been buzzing around like a bumblebee around Gabi’s sight makes an inaudible beeping sound, as if N1 had been tilting his head in observing mode. A hazy cloud like beam encompasses her form as it senses the hormones at work.  _ Five days until her expected menstruation, which means she’ll be horny as fuck just about now.  _ It would also explain her annoyance with him and Decebal bickering like a lost sibling. Scuzzy checks Nigel’s body temperature, which reads at about 100F/38C. “Don’t play around with Gabi, I just took your temperature and I can confirm that you run hotter than usual, even for a human.” Still holding a bit of a grudge, Scuzzy blurts out to N1 and he immediately adds more explanation. “If you spend baking underneath the fucking battleground with thousands of metalheads reflecting unforgiving streams of rays enough to cook a fucking chicken, you’d fucking melt into a fucking goo and dissolve with the sand.” A sly smirk tilting his lips as he watches the probes cave into his empty eye sockets, his propelled screen flashes a word as his fingers clasp around the fabric, handing it back to her in a mischief. “Not fucking cold at all, in fact, I don’t feel anything at all through the exoskeleton.” An imperceptible tilt of his head as his penetrating orbs scan her stature. “Although, I must say, you sure are fucking horny and look so unattractive with those coveralls. What are up with all the women with ugly fucking ass garment? It’s not a flattering color for you.”  


	9. Chapter 9

It was so very strange and pleasant to be speaking with Nigel in Romanian. It had been a nice surprise, but had also made her homesick. Answering his question, she chattered happily back to him. “Cele mai multe dintre ele au fost. Există foarte puține stânga .” In English she continued. “There is not much left of Bucharest these days.” While she herself had not been back to Romania since the Russian’s invaded she had kept up with any and all news about her home that she could. It had not been good news that was for certain. A few times the scavenging team had offered to take her back to Bucharest with them for a visit, but she had declined. There was no way she could bring herself to go back there. After her father died back home, it ceased to be a place of comfort and enjoyment. Now all that remained was the reminder of what the Russians took from her.

Listening intently to Nigel speaking, she wonders as to what Scuzzy was telling him. Already she had plans in mind to re-calibrate the SCSI’s capabilities to let her sync up with the N1 unit. That way through the screen of the VIS-Tablet she would be able to see what Nigel was looking at and maybe even what he could hear also. Giving him a confused look when he handed the scrubs back to her, she gave him a questioning look. “Do you not want these to wear?” Taking them back with a shrug, she folded them up small and set them down on the table opposite of the one Nigel was on. Turning back around at his words, she stared at him open mouthed. “What the fuck… excuse me…“ She bristled at his forward manner; she was not used to people talking to her in this way. It was very different, either everyone treated her with respect or back in the SRC they were barely able to speak out of fear. When he insulted her coveralls she turned a shade of red that stood out very notably on her pale porcelain skin. Those were her favorite clothes to wear. While she had some comfortable things on underneath the jumpsuit, she preferred the coveralls to keep from getting her clothes messy. Also the best part, she loved all the pockets it had.

“How fucking rude…” Glaring she pulled a tool from one of the pockets of her left pant leg, and donned a pair of protective goggles. When angry the best thing for her to do was let out steam by fixing things, it was her way of cooling down.  The android was turning out to be rather infuriating. Muttering under her breath. “Îmi place al naibii de astea .” Pouting had never been her strong suit, but she was feeling self conscious all of sudden from his stinging words. Sitting down on a stool that had wheels on it, she let Scuzzy float near her head displaying the upgrades on the screen for the new chip she was working on. Putting the last touch on the micro device, she stood up, and prepared to install the chip into the N1 unit. It was a morality chip, which made sure that in the future, if any farther haywire malfunctions happen, he wouldn’t be able to kill her. The chip was designed to shut him down instantly if he ever came at her with red eyes again. If she was feeling petty, could force him to shut down if he so much as blinked at her the wrong way, but she was far more forgiving than most people. Feeling spiteful and wanting to get back at the outrageous android, she told him. “Don’t get your mouth get too smart, you don’t wanna make me angry when I’m horny, I might decide to fucking turn you into a mindless overqualified sex bot.” The grin she had on her face said she could back that threat up. 

___

His crystalline orbs, emitting rippling illumination through the sockets as it seems to warp the reality, it doesn’t even take nanosecond to scan Gabi’s stature further to register what she’s wearing underneath; skinny jeans, loose fitted shirt that would be easy to maneuver around along with myriads of pockets scattered throughout the coveralls for easy access to tools. “ _ O mulțime de tovarăși mei au murit, am fost unul norocos foarte nenorocit. _ ” A very lucky one indeed, both as a curse and a blessing. Having experienced vulnerability, what he considers one of the most terrifying human experiences he would now never experience. It didn’t leave him shaking and sobbing on frigid floors, but he had writhed in pain with holes in his heart, watching more perish into dusts as the rebel put up an impressive fight. Perhaps the Russian S.R.C. underestimated the firepower behind the meager number of androids. Having resurrected as a one-of-a-kind Ubermacht android meant that he would unintentionally choosing to be lonely his whole life. There would be nothing like him even in the future. With the brain and diminishing human tissue blending in with the fluids, which made him immortal and had given him an ability to regenerate even with decapitation and disintegration of his limbs. Perhaps an empty one as well, now that all he left were the pain he carried within him like the blazing embers burning the best parts of him. 

“I imagine it’d be all the fucking rubble and remains of the dead. A fucking huge cemetery. Has the city emerged from the ashes of the war?” Knowing that the trauma that devastated the city on that fateful day would be permanently embedded inside the recess of his mind, no matter what kind of new chips or ideas were planted into him. Like archaeologists digging through the motley mass of destruction, the desiderium of his former life would forever wait to be excavated. Violence doesn’t always take the visible form inside his recollection of memories, as he had seen countless gushing blood taint the earth, having bathed as if crimson spread of sunset dissipating to permeate the hardened earth, millions of galloping stomps of both androids and humans causing wreckage all over like an unstoppable and relentless contagion. There would be no cure to this disease, like Ebola. “Of course not, I don’t feel particularly cold and you were informed by this flying disk here, I guess some things cannot be overridden and transformed. And if you wonder so fucking curiously, Scuzzy had been resourceful and useful enough to brief me what the fuck happened over the course of two months when I had been placed in a coma. At least she knows how to not keep me fucking fed up with inactivity.” With a roll of his shoulders and a grunt, he nudges Scuzzy as the glowing light radiates onto his torso, trying to prep him and egg him to turn to his side. 

“Trying to shut me down, huh? To add onto my astute observation, all the fucking wear and tear makes you look like you have a giant flap of pouch. You aren’t a fucking marsupial for a fuck’s sake.” Drumming his fingers mindlessly against the edge of the bench he had been laying on, as the boredom makes him to lean back against the cushion, the probes continuously make the whirling sound, itching for some kind of movement and action. Perhaps they could bother Scuzzy and get her to at least inform him something he didn’t know. “Deciding to be so fucking nippy, are we? Since my arrival to the facility and your goddamn lab, you have been imbibing too much caffeine and your hormones have been making you all jittery, irritable as fuck and dehydrated. With your sleeping pattern interrupted and messed up, no wonder your bags under the eyes are darker than panda’s. Might as well as trying to get some sleep while you’re at it. At least I won’t fucking choke you out of precious air when I pleasure you to scream until the enemy base rattles with your shriek.” A plastered-on smile awkwardly tilts his lips as he looks over the shoulder, his gaze fixated on the small microchip that would soon to be installed deep into his endoskeleton. “I wouldn’t fucking feel a thing even when I am able to penetrate you.” A hint of forlornness in his voice. 


	10. Chapter 10

While she felt bad for the android, she could understand the loss. If she dwelled too long on the past she would just work herself into an angry tizzy, and that wasn’t conducive to working in the lab. It was bad enough that she had to deal with the smart ass android now. After she finished installing the new chip in N1, she opened up his chest panel. This was to double check the receptors on the carbon nanotubes that housed the fluid lines that ran through out the android. The design on the N1 unit was so seamless and sleek you couldn’t see any lines when the chest panel was closed. That was one thing she had to give them credit for, the Russians had done a good job of that. Shaking her head, she told him. “You imagine correctly, the city was practically wiped off the map; there are still some buildings left among the rubble, but…” She schooled her face into an unreadable mask. She had been one of the lucky ones too; they took her away from her home and transported her away before any of the destruction. Listening to the smart ass talk about being bored and continued letting him insult her farther, she was just about to give him a snappy come back when a shrieking alarm went off.

Anything she had been about to yell at Nigel about minding his own fucking business died in her throat as the piercing air raid-like sirens blared over head. Her fingers were poised over the inner workings of N1’s chest cavity. “Fiu de cățea nenorocit ! Nu acum, naiba .”  A PSA announcement when up over the whole complex and her team was rushing into the room. Adjusting the carbon nanotubes and putting them back in place, she slapped her hand over the touchscreen scan to close up and lock down the chest panel. Her face was scrunched up in a look of worry, and her mouth was now a grim line. ‘! PLEASE SAFELY MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EVACUATION ZONES!’ A monotone voice repeated over and over. “Well it looks like you’ll get that action you crave so badly before you are even ready.” She was telling this to the android before rushing off to bark out orders to her crew. “Have the lab locked down, and take the computer Decebal, he has the important data, everything else can be left as is, just save my computer.” She was yelling at an orderly, and she turned to her assistant. “Get me my Aerogel suit, and find one for Nigel, er you know the Android.” She motions her head back toward the nude N1 unit.

Her Lieutenant named Brasher was yelling at her frantically. “Miss Ibanescu, you are under strict orders to make your way to an evacuation zone ASAP, we cannot risk your safety.” Brushing past Lt. Brasher she shooed him away. “Sir, I know what I can and can’t do. What I can’t do is send N1-G3L, I mean Nigel, into combat with out me, and I will not have it. I need to be there to monitor everything first hand.” Five people were hurrying to outfit her in an Aerogel suit of armor, it was weightless, and better than any old world bullet proof vest ever had been, it was even heat resistant. A flamethrower wouldn’t even make her bat an eyelash in this thing. The alert had gone up about an incoming android attack, while they wouldn’t outright kill humans, they could get killed in the crossfire. So everyone had to be evacuated, while every android the rebel base had was to report for duty. “Lt. Brasher, I am fully capable of handling myself, I was trained by the Russian military, and I know how to use a gun.” Back at Nigel’s side she adjusted the strap on the arm guard of the Aerogel suit; it looked almost like transparent scales. She had removed the coveralls and only had her regular clothes on underneath it. Now she wore a shoulder holster with two matching Energy Walther PP’s. A tomahawk made of alumina was strapped to her belt, its transparent blade looking sinister. While completing the whole outfit she was carrying a kinetic firing Advanced Heckler & Koch UMP. It was her gun of choice aside from the double Walther PP’s. Scuzzy was now shrunk down to the size of a pair of sunglasses and was placed over her line of sight like a visor. “Alright Nigel time to suit up.” She was pulling on black finger less gloves.

___

It only takes a blink of an eye to visualize what had happened to the city once his invasion had caused an annihilation under his dictation. How ironic it had been, with Scuzzy’s words churning like a giant swirl of lights, sky detonates with flurries of missiles and bombastic mow down of mass-produced androids that doesn’t stand a chance against the stealthy Ubermacht. As they had once have brought about through the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russian military leadership simply threw bodies into the fight, attempting to achieve victory through a war of attrition. At least human race were so scarce and needed to be preserved, so they wouldn’t be throwing an endless supply of poor peasant boys that could be sacrificed for the war effort. Just like how the Russian soldiers were considered so disposable that only every other soldier received a rifle, the guy behind him received five bullets and was to pick-up the rifle when the first soldier died. Androids did the same as only number of androids were capable of putting a nick against his own almost impenetrable exoskeleton. With the entire town leveled and artillery falling all around him, the Russian androids run into machine gun fire to meet their predestined fate, to be turned into salvageable mounds of parts to be recycled repeatedly to be recreated into a better version of themselves.  

“I am sure I have contributed a good portion of having the city transform into a giant mountain of rubble and remains.” Through the training and constant upgrades, his testament of babble skills honed to the minute details with a thorough assessment. Watching the detonating ticking time bomb through his glowing set of hazel probes and them looking more like torches flaming through the dense mist, he watches the appendages of both humans and androids become fireworks as the sky explodes. The air dense with nauseating scent of crimson and robotic fluids, thick and gooey against his feet. Walking through the clearings and causality of war, of all the skeletons, both the exposed infrastructure of the buildings and human remains, patches of sunlight graces his battle-tested skin, permeated with blood and charred atrocity. There, he sees an unmistakable likeness of Victor Ibanescu, dead, pinned underneath one of the pillars of the architecture it once had been the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra. Knowing his human emotion would perceive her distress and sorrow, he does the same for the briefest moment, until that damned fucking alarm utterly breaks the silence and plunging of emotion he finally relished after having seldom experiencing this. The blaring siren becomes the calamity in his mind, urging his frenetic violent side on as new surge of anger spawns from his inner working tubes. The fluids inside the nanotubes would’ve have already reached a boiling point if his chest cavity hadn’t been opened. 

“You sure have a fucking sailor mouth, such a shame as it doesn’t match your fucking pretty face.” He reinterprets to offer the last bit of reckoning and grabs the garments that he had rejected wearing before. With his chin lifted and lips thinned, his eyes narrow to scan the individual named Lieutenant Brasher. As the name suggested, he was brash, after all, even with the hierarchical order of the army still significantly in its effect and adamant to the point of his annoyance. “Listen, fuckface, although she runs on hormones and has a bitch level of infinity, she is capable of protecting herself and with me in the battleground, I assure you those androids would self-destruct, knowing they don’t stand a fucking chance with me. I know their weaknesses, vulnerabilities, as I had been once their ally.” Circling his shoulders and stretching his neck as his lifelong habit as a Captain resurfaces briefly before putting on the Aerogel suit, He dismissively shoos the lieutenant away from the lab. “Go and don’t fucking get killed yourself. I’ve got this as easy as a pie.” With another beckoning motion of his hand, he retrieves Decebal in his hand and stows him away inside the small compartment near the crook of his left elbow. Scooping Gabi up in his arms, he whizzes through the atmosphere, tinged with waves of red alerting lights as they exit the building. “C’mon, spazzy chipmunk, time for some fucking destruction.” 


	11. Chapter 11

She couldn’t help laugh at the way N1 was yelling at Lt Brasher, and sent him away. Both of them had shooed the man out the lab, having better things to do. It was too amusing watching the officer stomp away, to worry about N1 complaining about her potty mouth.  Watching the android put the Aerogel suit on, she made some adjustments on the arm guards for him. This was so it didn’t obscure the mobility of Nigel’s built in arsenal. Finished she did one circuit around him to make sure all was well. Giving him a thumbs up, and while he stored Decebal away; turning to make sure all of her crew had left the laboratory to make it to a safe zone. “No daring heroics today N1, you aren’t up to 100% proficiency, I can’t have you compromised.” Even as she said it, she had a feeling he wasn’t going to listen to her anyways. When he picked her up yet again, she was going to protest, but stopped when he called her a spazzy chipmunk. “What… Hey, I’m not… put me down.”

Outside of the main building that held the Laboratory; she tapped the lens of the Scuzzy Visor. It was scanning for any remaining people left out in the open. Jumping down, after ordering him to set her on her own feet, she moved silently crouched down for cover. Automatically they fell into routine, both with military backgrounds, she didn’t even think about it. She gave him the hand signal for ‘all clear’ and took point, and led the way through the main street. It was eerily quiet with no people around, and everything had been abandoned where it lay. The sight of a lost and discarded stuffed bear, made her grimace, thinking of her own forgotten childhood. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she couldn’t let that cloud her judgment. Her SCSI wasn’t picking up any signs of movement, but that didn’t mean they were in the clear, things were just getting started. She clutched her submachine gun close, lower to the center of gravity, while she picked her way towards the center square.

Ducking down behind a small transport hover, she peered around the corner quickly, and then moved back into place. Looking back where she had just been a moment or two she could see Nigel, she gave him a look, and didn’t risk talking out loud. Tapping the side of the SCSI screen, she set up a monitor for N1’s vitals. Internal temperatures, coolant levels, fluid activity, it all took turns scrawling around the top of her vision. Taking a hold of the edge of Scuzzy’s screen she watched as it morphed into a small sphere. Tossing the VIS-Tablet into the air, it gave her a aerial view of the surrounding area. It took a series of panoramic videos in secession. This all happened in the blind of an eye, and she caught the SCSI screen as it came back down to hover in her palm. Back in place as her visor, she now had 360 snapshots of the area for review just by thinking about it. The shrieking alarm finally stopped, and another PSA came over the announcements. ‘Enemy Incoming.’ Was all it said once, and cut off. The ground shook with the unmistakable sign, as five pods touched down in the middle of the square. Russia was clearly not fucking around they had sent down two giant heavy artillery robots, and three androids armed to the teeth. Suddenly she wished she had a few flash bang grenades and looked over at N1 expectantly.

____

With a raised eyebrow as one of the probes is itching to flash its slender mechanic super-alloy leg as a dramatic mocking gesture akin to his brashness, as soon as the blaring siren halts to contour him with the premonitory crimson and the sight clears into an opening of the infrastructure of the building, he puts Gabi down and scoffs, giving her a laser-like penetrating sharp gaze. Even before she completes her trail of weariness and confirmation, nevertheless, he knows his audaciousness will get him to try the most daredevilry actions of all things. It’s that quality that had both immensely shortened his advancement in the hierarchy of army and which eventually lead him to become what he is now. An undefinable, bordering human and android as he still could feel the fluids surge in anticipation, swelling as the rapidity causes him to be riddled with inquietude. “I think I’m gonna nickname you that from now on and along with Scuzzy the motherboard of all remote controls. I wonder if she could be hurled like a boomerang and inflict some nick on android’s thick skull.” Failing to come up with both creative and insulting nickname for Decebal for now, he watches the brume of the sand swirl over to form a miasma of denseness, celestial bodies shimmering out of the sand as each follicle scans through his advanced projection. 

The dry yet fresh wind, thick with grainy dust makes the visibility significantly reduced as the shrouds cocoon, then sweep across them in a whiff. Like walking and drifting in and out of reverie, the undulating wind creates a blaze of rippling patterns, becoming successions of flying Persian carpets as his incandescent laser luminesce through the atmosphere. “Even with all of the scientists and mechanics inside the refuge for their impregnability, I am most fucking certain they would want to capture me, bring me back to fight on their side.” Now Russian SRC brand replaced with Rebel AIAD’s stamp over his left bicep, the exhilaration spawns even higher as the furor sours. Especially after months of spending his time cooped up in the laboratory, going through endless testings and tweaking to get him up to speed. Already sensing the presence of androids up in the air looming closer towards them like apparitions over the stream of agitated air creating a gigantic halo around them, he flashes the ‘they haven’t got a (fucking) chance’ sigh, raising his thumb and index, a high-powered mortar soon swaps places the slender fingers as the heavy artillery uninterruptedly takes its place. On his dominant hand appears a retracted blade forged with transparent alumina, with particles of diamond embedded in them. Faintly sparkling under the haze, his grip on a lightweight, semi-automatic pistol, fully loaded with capable of firing both single and double action mode tightens as he curls his fingers into a tight fist.  

Now realizing that his ability with different artillery, combined with his connections with the army and both side of the coins, all the knowledge and being capable of feeling things, unlike those Faustian androids would make him a battlefield demiurge of all. Abjuring the position from the annihilator to the rebel side, fighting for the justice of all, the staggering and unchangeable fact that he had been the titular figure of the calamitous invasion of his native country is positively sacrilegious. Now his vengeance of retribution directed at his creator, another public service announcement serves as a sure wake-up call. As impalpable as the situation itself is, this wouldn’t be an insuperable obstacle to the path of becoming the indestructible and immortal android. Needing to let off the steam and to test out how much of an improvement the numerous upgrades had brought upon, he dashes into the thick fog as the hovercraft lands the androids. His form barely visible as his scampering feet barely makes any impression against the baked earth, he drowns in the brouhaha of bullets, his fully functional scanner already drawing up the projectiles to get perforating destructiveness to ricochet off the path of his architect. Producing an incendiary grenades to cause non-fatal, but significant damage to the other inferior androids which detects his accelerated movement, he immediately detonates it on his trail, believing that Aerogel would be effective with his added protection from both blazing discharge and chemical reaction. Throwing himself towards Gabi to protect her from the harm’s way as the force spreads more rapidly than the lightning bolt, the ground swell, along with the suffocating heatwave passes that graze along his back. He doesn’t feel a thing as his probe orbs remain unblinking.


	12. Chapter 12

N1 does indeed prove to be the perfect distraction, and she pops up behind the hover she used for cover. Using the surface of the vehicle for a level, she sets her submachine gun against the metal to steady it. While Nigel is being destructive and reckless, she lays down suppressing fire behind him to cover his back. Scuzzy chirps wildly, reading off the vitals of N1, and scanning the area to keep tabs on the two giant HAR bots. While having been trained in combat for over five years, she was a little rusty with a gun. Since she came to the Rebel’s base and sided with A.I.A.D she had been kept so busy, she hadn’t had time to get in much practice. One thing she would never forget is how to use her favorite weapon an axe. It was so drilled in her head and the memory something her muscles just did automatically. She was itching to get in their faces for some close quarter combat. About to signal to N1, she is nearly tackled to the ground by him protecting her from the blast of incendiary grenades.

Shaking herself off she mouthed ‘thanks’, she gives him the hand signal to ‘spread out’ and ‘you take on the HAR’s’ she had faith that he would be able to handle them on his own until she dispatched the three enemy droids. Then they could finish them off together. Before she set off to do as she had ordered, she has a sudden and concerning epiphany. Even though she had removed N1’s built in GPS tracking device, the Russians had still some how found them. While it was a serious problem, that was something else to worry about after the battle.  Shouldering her gun, she dashed off to the left where the three androids were grouped together. Now that she thought of it, where the fuck were the rest of the androids that resided in the rebel base. It was very strange that they were the only two down here fighting. Just one more thing for her to worry about later, after the fighting was over. While she was only mediocre with a submachine gun, she was able to do something that most people couldn’t. Being linked up cerebrally with Scuzzy, and a first-rate hacker, she could tap into enemy bots and droids on the fly. While it didn’t always work it did give some interesting results.

With the SCSI visor, she locked on and targeted the android in the middle. It looked to be the weakest link of the group. Like mind control, she had Scuzzy hack into the mind of the droid she was targeting. Scrambling its sensors and making it glitch out, the android started attacking its companions. While the other two androids, where confused and trying to fend off their rogue friend, she drew her tomahawk, tossing the submachine gun aside. Diving into a roll and coming up from a crouch in front of the droid on the right hand side. With a well placed parry, and a blow to its neck, she slashed at its weak points. There was a bunch of important circuits housed in the neck on most androids. You hit that spot hard enough and their connection goes dead. Using the middle droid that was slow recovering from its haywire fit, she gave it a shove into the other droid remaining. It was trying to get a head shot aim targeted on her. Ducking low, making herself a small target she ran off to take cover from the sole functioning enemy droid. Sparing a second she switched to split screen view to check in on N1. “Scuzzy tell me what you see.” She whispered aloud. 

___

As thunderous glaring flashy ripple splits the sky, the ghost of an amused grin spreads more as the ricocheted bullets bounce off the opposite way to be planted against the scorched earth, impacted by long drought of the nourishment. For those that don’t weave through the atmosphere embeds against his Aerogel and exoskeleton even when it perforates the semi-transparent layer. Through the cacophonous blasts of hoofbeats continuing to gallop and barreling through the whooshing air, all the firework-like bombardment of the artillery barely affects slim to none. Not even caring a fiddlestick about the waste of war funds nor Russia’s SRC futilely trying to bring him and Gabi down as captives, all the ammunition becomes like wasp’s stings against his back and front, as he slowly pivots his hips around. It would be ear-splitting enough to be jarring and cause incendiary damage. Grabbing the edge of the Aerogel suit and giving it a rough tug, he barely shakes off all the flattened pellets as they were absolutely ineffective against his external covering. “Fucking suck on that, useless ill-fated dopes.” He tells Scuzzy that those rather bombastically impressive HARs are a dime a dozen.    

As Heavy Artillery Robots’ Vulcan cannon grazes right by his side as he makes absolutely no effort to dodge or shield from the scalding heat as he stays within the range of his creator. His affectation would’ve been awkward and forced imitation of those inferior grades of machinery, except through his flamboyant and valiant know-it-all personality, it comes off as genuine and effortlessly easy. “Hey, fucking ghetto blasters, I’m going to demonstrate something you will never dare to achieve in eon.” Maintaining his stolid demeanor as the smug grin completely wipes off from his visage, his probe orbs gleam in a sinister matter. His anamnesis both always vivid and painful, it evokes the last almost failed mission of him trying to retrieve one of the crucial elements which would bring about his creation. Stealing Gabi’s blueprints off from one of the rebel bases, as the Russian SRC had a good number of espionage agent. He allows such memories as those to go out of print as if an author had been consigned to oblivion. Just like he wants to be amnesic about the bitter memories of him partaking in the destruction of his native country, which makes him to be bitter as the evocation of it reduces him to feel like the faction of fools. As the funereal sensation fades along as his body does, his feet whirls along the blending haze of the earth and air, appearing behind the the robot’s torso as the crystalline blade perforates the shoulder blade as to hit it on the nose.  

Having been allies once with those artillery heavy machinery, he delves to focus on decimating the mechanical apparatuses first, so that he could deal with the bundles of tubes later with more decapitating grenades, the impact of explosion contained within the endoskeleton to amplify the potency of the blast. Incapacitating the gatling design with the barrels attached from both of the HARs, with a series of fluid lambaste of mace-like jabs and hooks to the medial point of the axis where the appendages connect with hinged joints, at least the annoyance of the ruckus would be deactivated permanently. Watching the dark fluids coat and dribble against his arm as he swivels in the mid-air, drawing up a projectile in a microsecond to aim at the glimmering motion censor that continues to detect his movements, the missile blasts from his left arm, landing smoothly as he tumbles down on the earth, maintaining his composure as he bounces right up. Having already registered what Gabi had done to hack through the weakest link, he summons more longer blades implanted like his second skin from the crook of his elbows, abandoning the gun as the slight bit of warmth he feels from the fluid fuels his fury. His retina continuing to scan the weakest point of the central cluster of the torso, he spots canisters full of clear fluids, not too deviant from the kind coursing through his viscera. “Scuzzy, tell that spazzy chipmunk to attack the left side of the torso, I see defective vitiation right there.”  


	13. Chapter 13

Having watched N1 assault on the gigantic HAR bots, for long enough she cuts off the link to clear her vision. Able to see fully again, she spares a glance to the last remaining android. It had finally dislodged the hacked droid, and was heading towards her place of cover. It was consistently firing around the edges of the Hover she had hid behind. Counting its ammo, and the beats of each time it fired, she waited for an opening. The second that it stopped, she popped up from behind her barrier, double pistols drawn. Receiving a message via Scuzzy from N1, she targets the left hand side. Firing until empty with one pistol, and then she was switching to the other. Firing with two guns at the same time, is a bit ridiculous and severely limits your aim. While her aim was better staying standing in one place, she must have hit something vital, because she could see fluids seeping out of a few holes on the torso’s left side. The damaged android started walking slower and slower, until it stopped moving all together.

Holstering her pistols, she drew her tomahawk again, leaping over the barrier and ran full board towards the stopped android, as it was reloading. While it was unable to move, she slashed the droid in the neck, and kicked it over, with a thud. The android she had hacked into to put out of action, was finally recovered and bringing its gun up to aim at her face. It was some four yards away, planting her feet, with a two handed grip, she threw the tomahawk directly at its own face, where it stay embedded. The android toppled over, and she ran in the direction of gun fire while picking up her discarded submachine gun. Scanning the HAR robots as she came near, she almost ran into N1, as she was too busy focusing her attention on the looming bots. Since she was so close to Nigel she didn’t bother with hand signals. “I see you guys are getting along so well.” She huffed out laughing and short of breath. She had a hand resting on his arm for balance, since she almost fell into him. Face serious again, she told him. “Stop calling me spazzy chipmunk…”

Not being able to finish her sentence, as the HAR’s started firing just above their heads. With a groan she pushed off and away from Nigel, turning around she scanned all three of the HAR’s with her SCSI visor. “Find a weakness Scuzzy.” She asked the VIS-tablet. Cranky and irritated beyond anything she had ever been before, she glared at the bots. With a growl she launched herself off to the side, planning to go around behind the giant machines. Scuzzy was beeping frantically into the ear piece she wore in both ears. The screen was blinking highlighting a point of interest on HAR closest to her. “Tell N1 to aim to the red orb lens on the front.” When the HAR swiveled around to face her, she paused took aim, sighting down the barrel of the submachine gun, and fired a few consecutive shots at the red lens face. It only cracked in a few places, and continued to pursue her. Shouldering the gun, she turned tail and ran the opposite direction, weaving in and out of hovers to get out of the pissed off HAR’s line of sight. “Fiu de cățea, oh dracu’. Cred că e supărat. Nu bine, nu e bine .”

____

As he continues to paint the earth with rising misty trail of reds and oranges, with a devastating knuckle punch surging upward to perforate the central bundle of sacred nanotubes, functioning both as the means of fueling their artillery power and means of command. Knowing if Gabi had more time to be secured, she would have no resistance from those vehement machinery from hacking into their data. Perceived as now he belongs the righteous side, defending his philosophy as he continues to struggle with his inner sanctum, he feels as if with each upgrade making him even more closer to be impenetrable and indestructible even with his profound weak points, near his viscera and lower appendages where the circuit board attaches to the screen where Gabi could install more upgrades and chips into him. The morality chip does nothing to contain his most anthropoid trait; boiling anger spawned and sweeping up in flames as the fluids mimic the sensation. It’s as if he had been plunged under the magma, just before sinking into the suffocating and scalding heat before everything wails in combustion. With the thick oozing fluids slapping him as giving him a wake-up call, the ever so impressive HAR gives the last fight as the amorphous metal closes in against his neck to hold him like a pinned insect. Deafening fanfare grace and split the sky as he pivots his hips to sever the torso, his own gets a thick bath of more fluids, seeping into the millions of dents created by the flattened pellets. 

“Fuck, incoming fire, duck and run for your fucking life.” Signalling Gabi in a banter as he communicates through Scuzzy, he makes both ‘stay in front of me where it’s safe’ and ‘he’ll be out in a minute,’ using his own exoskeleton as the surefire shield against the barraging fire, the burnt fume of gunpowder and scattered bullet casings cawing and weaving through the dry wind. His own form somersaulting through the rays of projectiles, calculating them as they form prism patterns over his split retinas, the upper torso finally bursts into flames as pitch-black smoke hinders his view for the briefest time before his scanner is able to penetrate the miasma like the rain washing away all the smoke. As soon as the incinerated metal no longer flickers. Watching the tomahawk create a whorl a bare foot away from his stature, he rubs his palms and hurls the lower half of the massive HAR as if it weighs like a toothpick. Hurtling towards the staggering remaining artillery robot and taking a dramatic turn, he steadies her and his downward gaze scans the impressive crack the axe blade had marred and applies more pressure as he retrieves the tomahawk, handing it to her before dashing off the opposite direction. “I’d check if their circuit boards are all disconnected and be fucking done with. They have a tendency to detonate like a timed bomb.” Indicating to stay away, he senses an imperceptible movement from the crook of his elbow. Decebal. 

“I am quite fond of that fucking nickname, it suits you well. Don’t you think so, my snobby baller? I thought you were safe and sound taking refuge inside my body, something that you’ve always coveted, yes?” With an ambiguous grin as his corner of lips curl to form a malignant smirk, he watches more flurry of ammunition scatter his overhead like a confetti, a broken pinata letting out bits and pieces until it has nothing to give. A desperate attempt before his impending shutdown. Most likely those robots would contain some kind of info as just how much Russians have caught up with in order to create and mirror what he would able to do in the battlefield. “You are such a potatohead, I stand corrected, perhaps half of that would be enough for your pompous demeanor. Haven’t you realized, this drill had been orchestrated by your very own rebel base? They wanted to see how much you and Miss Ibanescu get along.” Perhaps that’s why the computer had stayed quiet all the time, instead of providing shortcut to disable those machines solely devised to test their companionship. It would clear away any skepticism of why all the other scientists and mechanics were out of the picture from the rebel base. Growing more infuriating as the anger tauts his stance, he scowls and glowers, before throwing petulant remarks at Scuzzy. “Forget who’s fucking angry, did you already fucking know this was a tentative trial for our bond?”  


	14. Chapter 14

Running and jumping over a hover to take cover behind it, she can hear N1 and Decebal arguing, but not make out their words over the noise. There is no time to stop and try to sort out what they are saying. Scuzzy beeps erratically a few times in her ear as if the little VIS-Tablet was speaking to her.  With tomahawk returned to her, she shoves it unceremoniously into her belt. There won’t be much she can do with the HAR’s in melee combat. Peeking over the top of hover, she gets a quick view of the one HAR being taken down by Nigel. With Scuzzy she reviews the panoramic photos she had the SCSI take earlier.  Looking for a tactical advantage over the huge robots, she reviewed them in a hurry. The ground shook where the foot steps of the HAR fell, she could tell it was still pursuing her. Unless she thought of something fast it was going to crush her to death or RNG knows what else. An idea formulated in her head, and with a slight manic grin she tapped the screen on Scuzzy.

The little VIS-Tablet split into two tiny screens a lower and upper. Taking the upper screen where visuals mainly appeared, she let the SCSI half roll into a ball. In her head she set the one half of Scuzzy on music mode. Tossing the little round holo screen into the air, it lit up like a disco ball playing music really loud. It was just the sort of distraction she needed. It zipped around the chasing HAR’s head making it spin around to keep its lens on the SCSI ball. Chuckling she used the regular screen of Scuzzy left over to hack into the now aimless robot. This one was bigger, and simpler to hack into. It also meant if she wanted to take it down for good, it would take longer. Hoping that the split half of the VIS-Tablet would be able to hold the attention of the bot, she crouched down. Using a certain code she spliced into the HAR’s inner working, feeling rather evil. This particular virus turned the robot’s own nanites on it, and basically ate away at its virtual ‘brain’, if it had been human it would melted like wax and turned into mush.

Gabi was normally a very mild mannered nerd, choosing to stay in her lab or at home. She had a weakness for cute animals, and electronics that could never love her back. When it came to fighting and warfare, she was more ruthless than most people, and she secretly enjoyed fighting. Destroying the HAR from the inside out gave her a sick sort of thrill, which made her feel powerful. Satisfied with the out come of the virus, she stood up to watch as the pursing robot, convulsed its systems shutting down. Taking pity on the now mindless machine, she ran up to the massive mecha. It was now kneeling on its two hinged knee joints which made it easier to reach. With a swift motion, she unhooked her tomahawk, and bashed the HAR in the lens with the pointed spike like end. It cracked the lens even farther and slowly the red light went out for good. Working the axe free from the broken face, she put her tomahawk away, looking for the SCSI. Scuzzy was now whole, and came floating back over to her. “Scuzzy go find N1.” Letting the little hovering tablet float away, she watched where it was going and followed it.

____

Cocooned over the mother load of effluvium of heavy mists created by the HARs and his super-charged and anger driven movements, he pretends to be running out of oxygen. Instead of a real heart, underneath the fortified exoskeleton, lies augmented arc reactor that functions both as his main central power source and to give a faint phosphorescent appearance as it bundles of nanotubes along with all the other mechanical devices scattered throughout the endoskeleton, formulating his frame. Thanks to the fluids running through and gracing all the vital compartments, it didn’t require lots of meticulous care and frequent recharging as he had to go through that in the initial stage of his development. With time and better upgrades, it was now in a stage where the fluids did its double job of giving him the ability to regenerate himself, as well as to be fully operational on its own. The only weakness being that it was potentially debilitating when any leakage happened through one of his vulnerable spots; such as the almost imperceptible crease where his legs and an arm had been amputated and reattached via infinitesimal clumps of map stretching over his figure like nerve system and veins.  

Standing by heaps of scraps of torn up and bent amorphous metal of the HARs, his boiling fluids about to rupture outward is the only sigh of his vital going all haywire. More silver pellets become akin to thick glistening scales around his torso as talon-like fingers rip the Aerogel suit off, in both annoyance and discomfort. Although the suit itself weighed practically nothing and didn’t give him a slightest hindrance in mobility, his exoskeleton itself proved to be resistant to almost anything. Anger seizes him as his steps grow heavier, lightning-like sparks continues to flare through the murky dunes of clouds, his probe orbs flickering to give off crimson light. Scrambling to get Decebal from the compartment inside the crook of his left elbow, the abrupt movement triggers the blaster to eject the missile, which hits dead center on the exposed workings and viscera of the HAR that he had decimated in half. The scalding metal flies in shrapnel, plummeting down to the desolate terra-cotta earth. Along with surging scream of the clear fluid, mimicking the adrenaline rush in human function, the graze of the molten fluid causes his synthetic skin on his face to melt along with it. His right side of the face, with the flaming light growing in intensity, stares blankly in animosity. He wouldn’t resort himself being reduced into a pawn again. As much as he had highly regarded himself for earning the covetous title at such a young age, this was the backwash that he had brought with himself for being such a provocateur and a daredevil. 

“And you, already having perceived all of this from the beginning, had decided to shut your snobby pretentious mouth so that you could entertain yourself in the backseat, while I give my best fucking shot to protect your little spherical ass so I don’t jeopardize my inner workings nor Gabi’s blueprints to enemies.” More than the familiar pain that rolled around like a storm, ending in downpour and lightning and with thunderous bang that would reduce him to a petrified paroxysm, which he earned himself for being the chosen one to be resuscitated into being the Ubermacht he turned out to be, the uncontrollable swoosh heightens. There would be no dilemma present, as much as there’s a strong urgency to crumble Decebal underneath his feet like a cracked egg. Without any means to prevent himself from running hot on fume, his attention is now concentrated on the large heap collapsing backward as Gabi retrieves the tomahawk from the good distance. Wanting to tear the morality chip off the bundle of circuit-boards around his torso, the blinding laser traverses through the atmosphere, long enough to reach and reflected against the surface of the transparent alumina of the rebel base structure. Before he could cause unnecessary damage and casualties, with a languid blink of his unexposed left eye, he shuts down as the fluid seeps out through the opening around the temple and through crevices where the probe attaches to the clump of brain tissues, holding his precious memories as a human intact.  Now free from the safe haven, Decebal rolls away from N1, giving a huff-like beep. “Scuzzy, the fanatic raging android has gone down.”  


	15. Chapter 15

Zipping around like a wild humming bird, Scuzzy does a few circuits around her head. All before zooming off continuing to lead Gabi to N1.  Climbing over wreckage and debris, she keeps and eye out for the small VIS-Tablet. There is no word from N1 just weird noises coming from her SCSI. Since Scuzzy stopped moving, she finds Nigel on the ground where the little glowing screen hovered. Immediately Gabi goes into over-drive panic mode. “Ah fuck… not good.” Gritting her teeth, she kneels down, ripping off her gloves with her teeth, and checking him over. She hadn’t seen him going down, because her tablet wasn’t acting as her visor any longer. “Son of a fucking bitch, Decebal… Why didn’t you tell Scuzzy to come get me sooner?” Touching a hand to the fabric of the scrubs he wore, she used a boot knife to cut the chest of the shirt open. Needing to get to the access panel on his torso, she pushed the cloth away, her fingers touching fluids. It sent an odd jolt through her body, and she yanked her hand back. “The… fuck?”  That was new, and had never happen before. “Scuzzy come here, and give me a read out. Nigel is really fucked up this time.” She didn’t need a computer or a fucking VIS-tablet to tell her that.

“I assumed, you were too busy dispatching pretend Russian HAR bots, to worry about your precious new plaything.” Came the condescending tone from Decebal, even though he knew she wouldn’t understand him. He sounded disdainful, and petty. Scuzzy beeped at him reproachfully, and relayed a message to Gabi. “HARs are fake, just drills… pretend…” Narrowing her eyes Gabi’s head snapped up. “The what… they were pretend?” Swiveling her head around, she could see through the smoke from the aftermath of their ‘battle’ was the leader of the A.I.A.D. faction. Long black hair was neatly piled and coiled on top of her head like snakes, and she was clapping. Jumping to her feet, Gabi glared. “Madame Sapona, this is no cause to celebrate. I strictly stated in my report that the N1-G3L unit, Nigel… wasn’t ready for such an extensive test. You ignored me, and tricked me into this mock battle!” She was livid, steely grey blue eyes burning with cold fire. Shaking her head, she was disgusted and disappointed. “Just because he has metal parts, and is more machine than man, does not give you the right to treat him like a tireless robot. He is not a HAR, or some mecha you can toss around on a whim.” Glowering, she met the older woman squarely in the eye, and didn’t look away.

“Well, forgive me Miss Ibanescu, it seems we have sorely underestimated how much the new android can handle.” The woman was giving Gabi a very strange look as if she was the one they had misjudged, not the android. She was so angry, that she was on the verge of tears. All that rage and energy she had used in the fight, fake or not, petered out…and all that was left in its wake was hot angry tears. “Permision to be dismissed, Ma’am” Not waiting for an answer Gabi turned on her heel, and stomped over to where Scuzzy floated by Decebal. Ordering her crew to her location, she was snappy and hostile when they hurried down with a hover gurney to carry Nigel back to the Lab. Before she followed behind her crew to go patch up Nigel, told Madame Sapona. “I hope you got the answers you were looking for in your little mock test.”  In the Laboratory she barked out orders, and got to work, she had him striped down of any remaining scrubs, and risked touching the fluids on his chest again. She had no fucking clue what had happen to his Aerogel suit. The shock from the fluids was less this time, but it was still like touching an electric fence on the lowest setting. “Oh my fuck…” Suddenly she realized that Nigel was able to feel pain… like a human. “Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my! La dracu, ce am de gând să fac cu tine, my Tinman…”

___

Before slipping away for good, the memory of how he had ended up this state flashes like a fast-forwarded film reel. It wasn’t a secret that the Russian laboratory had undergone a radical change, as it appointed one of the most liberal mechanic scientist to be the director and mastermind of the creation of androids. When they had been relentlessly making their advances to invade the Balkan peninsula, Nigel was appointed as a commanding chief officer to defend where the Russian army would make the landing point. The besieging army came via endless amphibious vehicles, convoyed by an army of android robots with heavy artillery mecha such as the one he had just fought. Having taken the shortest route to invade Romania, his native country, he gave a stimulus to the fighting spirit of the men as the will to live and survive had been reached its peak. Those mindless androids wouldn’t stand a chance; the most capable leader leading the defensive barricade and the competence of rebel scientists to come up with a hacking program that would enable them to ‘mind control’ them as if they had been the A.I.A.D’s ally from the beginning. Leading the rebel infantry and the brigade, assigned to protect those precious lives of irreplaceable scientists and mechanics, Nigel always situates himself in the height of the battle. With barrages of grenades detonating and the visibility slim to none under condensed smog that blends and obscures the sight, he gets shot down on both of his legs and arm and is immediately transported to the battle hospital, where he is kept without having a slim hope for life.

Mimicking the face-down position as it had been how he had succumbed to near-fatal shots that would give him the mother load of infections and complications, third time had been the charm without a suitable leader nor the firepower to fend off relentless bombardment that would eventually accomplish what the Russians came for; Gabi’s blueprint and stored data within the computer. Having stolen by a stealth android, with the helping hand of guerrilla tactics from the Russian army, they immediately work on their prized prisoner of war to test the progressive experiment that would either fail miserably or being a breakthrough in the field. With everyone’s attention on preserving the laboratory and its headquarters to mass produce and develop more higher grade android robots, the Russian SRC installs the program that meticulously followed the prize of the espionage, which would eventually wipe out his memory as a human being almost entirely and zealously serve them to cause more wreckage along the Balkans. It had been always a tug-of-war inside his head. Although the chance of him having the human emotions and receptors like the nerves and synapses inconceivable, he still had maintained the partial sensory neurons such as pain. Manifesting the muscle spasm, the probes continue to leak fluids, as the regeneration slowly begins within as the scalding heat gradually cools down under the chilled night air. “Just giving him a bit of an encouragement wouldn’t hurt, as I had been the one successfully feeding his preexisting anger, let’s say, a bit of an additive.”

As Gabi’s angry stream of words split the wind as the rubble and grainy sand half-covers and sinks him into the dunes like a fossil, the fingers on his right hand, governed more by the human side more than any other part curls against the rippled, more powdery soil. The damaged right side gives off a continuous and faint blue sparks, running form intricate map of the nanotubes running all the way down to connect through the access panel. Through the crevices and exposed wiring of his face, the electric current surges as shooting pain akin to involuntary spasm continually makes his damaged eyelid to flutter like flickering lights under the strong gust. Having already been misconstrued of being an indefatigable nor indestructible as proven and finally having set his foot in the right side, he had better thought that this successor would have the right state of mind during the tumultuous wartime. Apparently he had been gravely mistaken; he doesn’t pay attention to the world ending, as it has already ended for him so many times and began again as another specimen. Even when he had been carried back inside the lab as the procedure ingrained in his mind like a mundane routine, he feels the surge of fluid push upward the larynx, pooling around to rise against the fissure around the chest. Even when in his friable state, the unpleasant sensation spawns like a wildfire. He doesn’t know which is better, or who’s worst for that matter; _the cold-hearted and relentless Captain or this broken artificial intelligence, an unwitting pawn with no heart at all._ “Ouch.” He blurts out before slipping into a haze, surrounded by an opalescent blurriness.    


	16. Chapter 16

Back in the lab, she had chased away all the members of her team after they helped her get Nigel out of critical danger. Still in a dark brooding mood, she didn’t want anyone else touching N1. The repairs this time didn’t take nearly as long. There was no giant gaping wound in the middle of his chest this time to fix. Working late into the morning hours when no souls were left awake, but her and the soft glow from Scuzzy’s orange tint. Pissed off at Decebal, she had him shut down for a while. If he was going to be a smug ass for a computer, he can hate her for turning off his monitor for a bit. In the laboratory this was her domain, she wasn’t about to let anyone boss her around or talk to her like a second class citizen. The strange shock from touching the fluids that leaked out of Nigel was like little memory receptor shocks. Tiny flashes of memory carried through the current, like flowing along a river. All of the internal damage was easy to fix, it was just minor things. The skin would take a while to regenerate on its own; there wasn’t much she could do about the pain.  _ Was there such a thing as using morphine on an android?  _ With a shrug, she had injected Nigel with a high dose, directly into the tubes that the fluid shared. Given time she would look into all that if she could…

Shortly after the repairs were all done she received a memo via Scuzzy. It was telling her that the A.I.A.D. was taking control of Nigel for a ‘while’ to run some of their own tests on him. It was useless to protest, as they clearly weren’t going to listen to anything she said after all. There was no telling if she would ever get to spend time with the crazy android ever again, so she turned him back on. Watching the lights come back on in his eyes, as he woke up was one of the few things she would never get sick of.  It was a slow process like a person coming out of a coma. Her very own sleeping beauty, waking from his long slumber. For once Gabi was insanely tired, she felt like a little old woman, and the weight of gravity was almost too much for her to handle. Climbing onto the empty station table that was parallel with the one Nigel lay on; she rest on her back staring at the ceiling.  _ How did you say goodbye to an android, would he even care that he might not see her ever again? _ Pulling her vape cigarette out of her coverall pocket she laid there puffing away growing more moody.

Some where along the way she had pulled on a set of spare coveralls that she kept in storage around the lab.  They were drab and grey; they looked how she felt, a rain cloud following her around. There was no right way to Nigel what was going on, this wasn’t easy to let him go slipping through her fingers all over again. People were always going to try and take the N1 unit away from her, but that was something she refused to get used to. Sitting up, she moved around the lab and gathered a few things. Nigel was done powering up now. So she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder, and moved to stand at the foot of the station table. “Hello sleepy head, good to nice to see that your awake now.” She was like a little kid scuffing her foot on the floor, having to do something she clearly didn’t want to, but she put on a brave face. “I’m going to go home now, I haven’t been there in some months, and I haven’t slept in even longer…so you might not hear from me for a while, they assigned a new squad to test you out. So… behave.” Whistling to Scuzzy, she turned the little Vis-tablet off, and stored it away in her bag. Decebal was already packed away to be delivered to her house at a later date. It kind of felt like she was being fired… Just before heading out the door, she turned around to look at Nigel once more. “Ne vedem în jur , omule staniu .”

___

A blinding light overwhelms his view as closed lids open up like a fissure on the sun-baked ground. They recede back to the deep ridge of his prominent features, like a curtain withdrawing slowly to let in the meretricious light of the laboratory as he slowly blinks. He looks as if he’s taking a long languid slumber, but as he didn’t need long hours of sleep to sustain his powerful exoskeleton and nerves and synapses controlled by the central circuit system, with the fluids already taking on its regenerative properties, all he needed to complete the recovery was the growth of the synthetic skin, covering the outer stature. With each touch along the leaking fluid, an imperceptible and involuntary spasm gently rocks his body, the deeply rooted nanotubes emitting a paralyzing current down to all of his appendages. As with his previous experiences with anything opioid-induced tolerance, the shift to the right in the dose-response curve had been so great with his case; in other words, a much higher dose is required over time to maintain the same level of analgesia due to his jeopardized and transformed neural systems. His receptors in the endoskeleton had undergone so many changes through resuscitating and frequently upgrading him to tweak any malfunctions and bugs that would be detrimental to both the lab’s same and his precious one-of-a-kind functions, that would result in decreased receptor activation, or desensitization. With added prolonged exposure to opioids when he had been the most frequent patient in field hospitals as a captain, soon to earn his coveted title Major, even with the high dose, he barely felt the symptom; drowsiness barely felt over the back of his brain, as if being pleasantly tipsy. 

The crystalline light regaining its sparkling qualities as he turns to face Gabi, fingers turn as he completes the process he hadn’t been able to before passing out into an unconsciousness. The blaster replaced by slender fingers, looking bonier and slender than usual, curls and clasps against the edge of the station table. Having felt every minute sensation through fluids, even the leakage couldn’t prevent him from perceiving every single minute sensation. There had been a primal reassurance in being touched when he had been human, knowing that someone else, someone who cares for him and wishes them a speedy recovery would want to touch him. It’s a silent, yet a surefire confirmation that gives off a sense of bone-deep security, a brush of a soothing human hand. Something he had considered so sensual and yet mundane had simply vanished under his mecha body, which less resemble human. No blood or matter would ever seep from his body ever again, minus the sensation of pain. Usually, his head would be occupies with whirling words of Scuzzy and Decebal, full of weariness and snobbery, respectfully, but it had been deadly quiet, almost unpleasant and disquieted. Somewhat perplexed and disturbed by the sight of all things, he mimics his typical stance. With his brow slightly pinched with a tick of his tongue, a weary expression crosses his facade. The reluctance masked by impassive, verging on sangfroid gets effectively disguised by still healing synthetic skin on his face. Many questions perch against his throat, but there would be no need. “Okay..  _ Ne vedem în curând _ , spazzy chipmunk.” The word ‘ _ tinman _ ’ doesn’t ring as he watches Gabi leave, then everything cuts to too familiar sensation of having placed under anesthesia soon spreads everywhere. 

~~  

A silent heap slowly finds his footing, as he looks at the calamity he had created. The last thing he remembers before going completely under had been him being placed in some kind of a contraption, inside the vertical canister to be examined thoroughly. Innumerable tubes and electrodes attach to his brain and chest plate as he gets placed in an induced sleep, his vitals suggest so, but he had been fully alert, feigning docility as he eavesdrops the classified information. Their wicked plan to monopolize the human cells within his body, destroying his precious memories in the process to create endless supply of his clone. In attempt to create supreme army, worthy of reverence and imminent annihilation among the enemy soil. Utilizing his stealthy dexterity when he had been working for Russian SRC, he searches for the perfect opportunity in the risk of losing the memories. Perhaps Decebal or Scuzzy could help retrieve it,  _ somehow _ . Then, he doesn’t know what hit him; in a furious rage as he slashes mindlessly with the blades, drawn out from behind his wrists like retracted talons of a predator. His face contorts as wild anger tauts his spine, succumbed by the most carnal human emotion, much intensified than before as flurries of crimson splashes all over the transparent steel. Thinned lips snarling, he slits the throat and decapitates the man who had put him inside the apparatus, who is paralyzed with fear.   


	17. Chapter 17

Making it back to her house, she unlocked her door with a thumb print to the scanner just to the right of the door handle. The home she had chosen for herself was a huge old style stand alone. She had no neighbors to speak of because it was the only house left standing on the block. All the others were so old and had been knocked down to clear the section of the city. This had been before the city was abandoned. Why this lone house was left untouched, no one knew. To make matters worse or better depending how you looked at it, the house was in an empty sector of the ancient city of Bern. It was as quiet as a mausoleum inside, dust particles floated through the air; no one had been here in some months. All her time had been spent at the lab, and since she hadn’t been able to sleep, there was no need to come home. One of her crew members by the name of Gale would come to check on the house in her absence.

It seems that her squad came through for her now too, they had stocked the fridge, and prepped the place for her. At least she knew that they still cared about her, if she was a little cranky to deal with at times. Someone had left Decebal’s neatly packed box in the den. After doing a walk through of the whole place, she sat down in the den, and put together her computer. It didn’t take much as Decebal had his own docking station here at her home as well as the lab. To make it easier for the computer to be transferred back and forth with ease, almost like a laptop that turned into a desktop. Since she had no neighbors to speak of, she turned music on as soon as the computer was up and running. Turning the volume up as loud as she could stand it, she sat on the floor in front of a metal crate. Pulling her VIS-tablet from her large messenger bag, she turned Scuzzy on. The little SCSI zipped around the room all of the interface lights glowing orange and bright. It was almost too cheerful for Gabi to handle right now; she wasn’t in a very joyful mood. Unrolling a huge leather wrap, it revealed some old world mechanic tools, and inside the metal crate was a robotic dog.

The dog was something she worked on as a side project, it was taking her a long time to finish, but she wasn’t in a hurry. Even with Decebal, and Scuzzy to keep her company she was still lonely. Maybe she’d get her doggie up and running soon, hoping to fill a void in her heart. She didn’t want to admit it, but she missed Nigel and his smart ass antics. He was so very much fun to talk to, and being able to speak Romanian with him was an added bonus. Almost a full day went by, while out any rest, and around 5:30am she had passed out on a Cleopatra lounge in the den, a small wench lying on her stomach. One hand slipped down to rest against the carpet on the floor. Her dream was very strange, and not at all like anything she ever had before. It was odd, and she didn’t feel like herself. It wasn’t the sort of out of body kind of dream it was all first person, as if she were playing a game. It was all in bits and pieces, gunfire, heart beat, monitors going off in what could only be a hospital. A voice that sounded like N1’s was speaking to her; it was faint and distant at first. The voice was saying ‘Wake up, Wake up, Wake up’ over and over. While Gabi twitched in her sleep, Decebal rolled across the floor and bumped lightly into her hand. Scuzzy was hovering over her face, and making a series of odd clicks and whistles. In a tiny robotic voice, Scuzzy told Decebal, “Those are N1 dreams…not electric sheep…” Scuzzy trailed off sounding depressed.

___

With a warm, copper-rich fluid bathing him in whole, mildly entertained, he watches the decapitated head’s expression slacken as all the muscles droop. The sinister mock of the black opal reduce to an opalescent and bleary empty gaze before him.  _ Lifeless _ . Clangorous sounds continue to echo through what it seemed his impenetrable skull, like a horrendous caws of unknown creature, about to devour him whole. Fighting the unfathomable miasma with valor, probe eyes beep with an eerie glow. More fragments continue to mar and ricochet off his exoskeleton as the mechanics valiantly attack Nigel’s weaker spot - the exposed right eye, where the intricate bundles of nanotubes dangle against his razor-sharp cheekbones. Giving a whoop of rage as the fluids inside the canister, still frozen against the chilled outer layer beneath the peeled off synthetic skin clings onto him like a third layer on top, his facial expression remains apathetic, though there’s underlying rage continuing to spawn faster than malignant cells spreading over his corporeality. His temperature well below sub-zero, it is done to preserve the transfected, isolated and somatic cells within his inner workings, to clone him in multitudes in attempt to create an unbeatable army.

Through the flurry of bullets and even though his less than impervious state, he remains oblivious to all the electrodes still attached to his scalp and forehead, his ashen blond hair still intact, matte and soiled. The ones on his chest are easily snapped free without giving him too much of an annoyance, except the attached receptors had been still implanted deep within where his augmented arc reactor would be.  _ An unfortunate, but necessary assassination is in order. _ He swallows decisively, tasting the blood in the process. He just won’t rest until his task is complete.  _ No matter how broken he gets _ . To him, there’s no such thing as being a little bit peeved, a little upset or slightly miffed. It’s either he goes frantically furious or apathetic. For now, he feels both; no matter how competent those mechanics and scientists they are, they’re merely expendables to get to Madame Sapona. The wicked devil behind all of this, the view itself is a single reminder of just how wrong and inhumane this really is. With the elimination of fragmentation and ligation, all they had to do was to continue with isolating the brain cells, to remove the nucleus and all of his DNA that define him as a partially human. Even with the human frailty, life as an android meant that he would never grow old. With a forty-year-old face, as long as he has a sufficiently skilled mechanic at hand, his life would be extended, as he gets upgraded further.

Then, he hears almost inaudible and faraway cry that echoes right through his eardrums.  _ Wake up. WAKE UP _ . Sudden commotion traverses all over, as continuous orange sparks from the firearms and noxious fumes of gunpowder cracks through like parched earth during its worst drought. Stupefied as if having taken a devastating blow to the head, his mind hurtles to take him back a finite time ago, failing to recall exactly when. When his body had been in a wreckage with flesh-tearing pain. The gnawing grip of its chronic, stabbing would last him for what seemed like an eternity. Vice-like pain resonating from the prosthetic-looking contraption on his lower appendages. The tingling sensation continues to let his shattered body emulate the ravaged earth due to a beastly madness that is war. As new nerves penetrate his stubbed left arm and both of his legs, thighs-down, burned, disfigured and looking ugly with battle scars, there had been no motivation for anything else with the raging war rampant. With all he was good for diminished, he tells himself now that nobody cares and negative thoughts surge in like a dark mountain of waterfall as the excruciating pain accompanies him in a sole company. Raw, pulsing and jagged. His limbs heavy as if anchored deep in the ocean bottom. Before going under with a high dose of morphine and stabilizer, he hears the chopper’s rotor blades brood overhead, as the sky seeps with lavender with streaks of pink. Barely registering the Sargent’s words, he could only take in that his most opportunistic and optimistic option would be to go through the process of being experimented upon. He doesn’t have an ounce of strength to blurt out a reply.  _ Fucking do it. _ As millions of unfinished thoughts swirl inside his brain, he manages to give a faint thumbs up as immense silence soon fills the atmosphere. 


	18. Chapter 18

“Get up, Gabri-ella…” a tiny robotic voice chimed out sadly, Scuzzy hovered over the face of Gabi shining an unbelievably bright light on her face. No matter what Decebal and Scuzzy did they could not wake her up. “It appears we find ourselves in a unique predicament.” The computer told the worried VIS-tablet. In her dreams Gabi was not herself, if she had to guess she would have said she was N1-G3L, but she couldn’t be 100% sure. The voice in her head sounded like the android, but it was not very lucid, and switched back and forth between two different time frames. She knew for a fact that the one time frame was real or imaginings of something that had really happen. It showed her snippets of before and after Captain Nigel Lecter became the prototype for the N1-G3L unit. The other flashes of memory, she had no clue about, it was cold, and dark. There are voices, and pain, morphine that barely works to keep it at bay, and the effects of being put under. Like being put under laughing gas, but still able to hear and feel everything. A waking nightmare, in the unknowing cold darkness.

The rage and fury has Gabi shaking, it’s uncontrollable. The monsters in her head screaming out for more revenge and more violence. Bathing in blood that isn’t her own, the voice in her head is scared, but it’s masked over with the others anger and pain. If she wasn’t freezing, she was sure her blood would boil in her veins. Her body outside of the dream is in a cold sweat, soaking into her coveralls. It’s as if she has a fever, body twitching, clammy skin, with sheen of perspiration across her neck and brow. There isn’t much the SCSI and Computer can do for Gabi, they have no limbs, and cannot break her out of the trances she is in. Like a bird perched on the curved end of the lounge chair Scuzzy rest, not hovering at all. Her screen was monitoring Gabi’s vitals. A little heart beat blipped across the screen, and it showed her temperature spike. “Trouble… N1 is in trouble.” Scuzzy chirped at Decebal. With a feigned air of indifference the computer told the VIS-tablet, “When isn’t he in trouble?” Reveling in the carnage like some glory hound, Gabi enjoyed taking down her enemies, feeding off that rage. Her objective is clear, she’s got a new target, and an assassination is in order. Instead of taking the hit from a faction like Russia, this one is more of a personal vendetta. There was be nothing more pleasurable than to take care of all loose ends right then and there, but with so many people trying to kill her from every angle, she is forced to flee. 

Sitting bolt up right, she wakes up panting, damp to the skin, and soaked. Banging her head on Scuzzy, she had been hovering too close to her face. “Ow… Scuzzy.. What are you doing?” Swinging her feet over the side of the lounge, she set her feet to the ground, but didn’t get up. Her head swam, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She was too hot, and as cold as she had been in that dream, she was now hotter than lava. Lurching forward, she fell to her knees, and vomited on the floor near the metal crate. After she was finished emptying the contents of her stomach, she rolled over wiping her mouth. It was pitch black in the house save for the lights that Decebal and Scuzzy cast around the room. Lying on her back she started stripping off all of her clothes, she needed air. Sitting up, she got to her feet and left the den, heading towards the kitchen. Scuzzy was following, but she didn’t notice the message that blinked repeatedly across the SCSI’s screen. ‘N1 SOS, MAYDAY!’ Seeing that her front door was blown off the hinges, she found one of her hidden guns, and started sweeping her house for intruders wearing only a bra and underwear, she didn’t care she was on high alert.

___

Encircled in a drowning sound of silvery, fire particles continuing to deform his exoskeleton, he could feel the fluids inside him surge, boiling with angry fists. If he had a heart, it would threaten to spread his ribcage apart with such explosive unrestrained rage. About to unleash his fury on the offending mortal, he stays like a dormant volcano, but like the Mount Vesuvius erupting to consume everything in its path with lava and the suffocating smoke afterwards that seal the imminent fate of the oblivious people who had been taking a leisurely relaxation, the vehemence is incomparable when it happens. No amount of words, such as  _ vendetta  _ or  _ vengeance  _ would never live up to the ones inside his head. Such betrayal from what he considered the righteous side had evil planted deep within.  _ Abominable and vulgar _ . Transparent blade hacks and slashes the gun smoke filled laboratory as more warmth of the crimson splatters and coats his body. Fingers become vice-grip as he hurls the disfigured body, completely cut through in the middle towards the canister where the inactivated clones of himself quietly remains in tranquility, submerged inside the fluids not unlike the one that had seeped into his endoskeleton. Somehow, the other fluid managed to prevent the regenerative property to halt, or at least drastically slow down its process. 

Fingers themselves become the razor-sharp spear and as they curl, become the hook to pierce right through the ribcage and viscera. His face remains deadly impassive throughout, a faint curl of his lips suggesting an imperceptible smirk. Through the exposed workings of his left probe, his hazel crimson orb saturates such powerful beam of energy that it begins to burn right through the human skull. The orb acting as the convex lenses, he feeds on the agonizing screams of the people who had imprisoned him like a raptor.  Übermacht presented without a collar and a leash to contain himself, like the origin of his creation; to be the A.I of mass destruction and an one-man army with deceptively human traits that distinguish him from a millions of other android humanoids. Through the havoc and sepulchral sight of disfigured and annihilating eradication, soon, the vociferous screams die out to become a tranquil sea after a horrendous gale. Angry tentacles of foamy water sweeping whatever’s in the path until they exert destructive force upon every fleet as crews succumb to the force of the nature. As soon as the ominous fog clears and having registered the gruesome sight of his bloody reprisal, full of strewn viscera and brain tissues, his blood-covered fists retract to produce the blaster, decimating this sector of the lab without a chance of salvaging. 

In his prolonged madness, he rips one of the clones, who exactly look like him in its outwardly appearance minus the humanness. Splitting them right in the middle as slick fluids drip onto the length of his body, he retrieves what it looks like an arc reactor, seemingly much more fragile than his own, along with its decapitated head. From the same opening of the hollowed muzzle, napalm shoots through to soon cover the remains of the lab. Intense yellow fans out, soon consuming everything in a wild dance of red, matching the spread of the beaming sunlight peeking over the horizon. Atmosphere spins with both brightness and wavy heat as more flames leap to envelope the structure. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to figure out where Gabi resides. The central database contained every mechanical scientist’s whereabouts and residence. It wasn’t too far of a walk from the rebel base to his creator’s house, standing alone on the desolate land without any living thing in his sight. As the sun rises, the unbearable heat completely parches off the fluids, both his own and the one which had inhibited his healing properties. Most of the synthetic skin burnt away, he looks even more like the transformed self, a complete android as the surface of the translucent exoskeleton reflects the rays like a mirror-ball. The rage continuing to taut his stance and fueling each long, decisive stride towards his destination and when the door doesn’t budge against his vice grip, he blasts the whole thing off with a blaster missile and waits until the black smoke clears. His eyes blazed even more when he hears the sweeping fire resonating from the den, radiating out in his direction. Casting the beheaded clone head inside the house as the blank gaze of the lifeless form breaks through the clearing, N1 steps through the entrance, not an ounce of rapturous delight present, even though he is free yet again.   


	19. Chapter 19

It doesn’t take her long to find the severed a head, almost stepping on it. Nearly jumping five feet in the air when she finds the thing she curses profusely in Romanian. “Al dracului hristos , dracu e asta ?” Poking it with her foot, she grimaced, and backed up.  For a moment she had thought it was in fact the N1 unit’s head, but it wasn’t, her pulse was still jumping in her throat. It was just another android that was cloned to look just like Nigel; a look of confusion crossed her features, then a frown. Feeling jumpy, she twitched at the slightest little sound. When Scuzzy gave and angry beep, Gabi looked around there where the little VIS-tablet was going. Gasping when she saw N1, she put her gun up automatically. He was slumped down onto the floor, back up against the island in the middle of her kitchen. Clicking the safety on her gun, she set it down on the count, rushing over to the android.  “Ce sa întâmplat naiba ? Oh tin man, what am I going to do with you?”

Crouching down, she knelt next to Nigel, and whistled the SCSI over. “Quickly give me a scan, Scuzzy.” The VIS-tablet did as she was told, and a beam of light scanned the damaged android up and down twice. The screen blipped and displayed the vitals of N1. “Fuck, what the hell did they do to you?” The external damage alone was very horrendous; she didn’t have to look at the screen to know that his inner workings were most likely just as fucked up. Getting an arm under his, she tried to get him to his feet. “Come on; let’s get you to my home lab. It’s not as fancy, but you need patched up asap.”  It was slow going, but they managed to make it to the small room to the left of the den. It was originally a living room, but Gabi had it gutted, and renovated into a small laboratory for working on things at home if she ever needed. Along the way, she had the voice activated lights turn on through the hallway. The lab sensed Gabi’s body heat and turned on automatically.

Getting him onto a station table was much harder, and she tried to keep him talking while she set to work. “Tell me what happened, I need to know.” Getting out tools, and a set of goggles that acted as a magnifying glass, she pulled a hovering tray over to hold the things she needed. Wielding a special scalpel, she tells Nigel warily. “I-I have to cut away the little bit of remain synthetic skin. With it burned like this it can’t regenerate.” Chewing her bottom lip, her hands hovered just above his face, poised to do the task at hand. “I know this is going to hurt, and I’m sorry, but from what Scuzzy’s reading said that Morphine didn’t really help you.” Getting an idea, she perked up a little bit. “I have an idea, but I don’t want to do it without running it by you first.” Carefully, she set the scalpel down, and brought her VIS-tablet over, to swiftly swipe a finger across the screen, and typing in a few keywords searching her database. “In theory this should work, but… I don’t know if you’d like this idea or not.” She eyed the android trying to be a little hopeful.  “Basically, I’d remove all of your upgrade chips, personality ones and all. You’d just be a shell for a little while, until I can finish repairing you.” Showing him a little diagram on Scuzzy’s screen she continued. “I’d just need to upload you into a host, until it’s all finished, and then I can put you right back… What do you think Tin man?”  The only problem they would run into is finding a host for Nigel to reside in while, she finished the repairs on the N1 unit.

___

The sensations coursing through his body acts like a double-edged sword. The pain receptors flare to take on the overwhelming calamity presented in many forms. The bundles of exposed nerves flaring with endless blue sparks that transverse through the charred exoskeleton, a few flaps of his synthetic skin clinging onto his face more like a scab as his body effortlessly fight to regenerate with a depleted fluids, a source of his ongoing fuel. Having already lost a significant amount (more than one-fifth to be exact) of his body’s fluid supply. his body reacts as if he has hypovolemic shock. Unlike human, no matter how destroyed his exoskeleton becomes, he would persevere as long as there had been enough regenerative cells present in the nerve endings and stored fluid sources. it was his ruptured probe on his right eye and near his abdomen by the central computing system where all of his crucial upgrades and data had been stored. Incapable of feeling any genuine emotion that makes human except sheer wrath, the pin and needle of the incinerating pain presents its form akin to his internal workings playing wall-ball against the inner surface of the exoskeleton; like a pressurized tank about to explode into myriads of pieces, shards lacerating and tearing down all of his innards. 

Akin to human organs shutting down due to massive hemorrhage, his body mirrors the human body going through the symptoms of shock; as the blood pressure plummets, his lower appendages are the first ones to suffer. Going through the petrified paroxysm of debilitating current halting all the functions of movement, the ear-splitting flurries of bullets turn into the magma sinking and breaking his indestructible shell into a puddle of mess. As long as he has another substantial and capable host to be transferred to, his essence would remain true, minus the human memories. Since the nanotubes inside him didn’t have to carry oxygen and other essential substances to organs and tissues, and since his arc reactor doesn’t willingly shut down unless the incandescent light blue halts to give a faint glow throughout his torso, his stature droops and plummets like a battle-cruiser going down in a wreckage. An Übermacht with a faulty setting, the only thing that keeps him to remain conscious is his time-tested willpower. “God, your fucking trash mouth. I should clean your goddamn mouth with soap.” Raising a displeased eyebrow in disapproval with the nickname, the back of his head presses against the pillar of the counter, his dewlap stretching as the pool of translucent fluid manifests itself like a livid bruise, disfigured by welded intricacy of layered plates, turned into jagged terrain full of parched wildfire and arctic freeze. Having a lack of stored energy to even offer her a snappy retroaction, he speaks through via Scuzzy, briefing all he remembers;  _ that supposed ‘new squad’ had taken his human DNA within his body, destroyed his precious memories in the process, although he doesn’t know which trail as it remains blank, to create his clone. In order to create an android army that exactly would function like him in attempt to bring about an unbeatable army and killed several mechanics and scientists in the process of his liberation.  _

Failing to stand with a firm footing, the grueling journey towards Gabi’s home lab is the most languorous one. A wavy, opalescent cloud continue to form inside his muddled brain, the only perceived texture the dense crimson reflected off his curled fingers, the madness still contained within the exposed crimson pupils, flickering and moving in erratic spasm. “Scuzzy, why the fuck don’t you show spazzy chipmunk here the briefing? It’s all I fucking got from my anamnesis.” Recorded scenes from one of his unperturbed probe confirms the bloody sight of him being immobile inside the chamber, awaiting his bloody retaliation that would end in a massive hellfire. Scuzzy complies, emitting a compliant beep as the fragments of recollections piece together into a pastiche of flashes through haze, then violent splatters of blood, capturing each scene with clarity. The footage stops with the flame transferred onto N1′s synthetic skin on his face, the exposed wiring dangling against where his chiseled cheekbone would lie. A highly agitated embers sweeping inside the backbone of his inner workings to create a concurrent surge of impervious pain, the little addition would be almost unnoticeable in his wretched state. “A little pain on top of this wouldn’t do a fucking shit, but if you so insist.” For all his quasy-android life, his ‘consciousness’ wasn’t ever transferred or an attempt was ever made to bring that idea into a realization. Through the VIS-tablet becoming the eyes for him for the moment being, he spots a dog, most likely Gabi’s creation. “Are you saying you’re gonna make that fucking dachshund my host?” The dog has patched fur, surprisingly seamless in likeness and very small in size. Heaving a defeated sigh, there was no fucking way his supraliminal existence would get along well with Decebal, or Scuzzy for that matter, and perceiving nothing suitable for his short-term host, he nods. “How long would take for you to bring the framework to a bearable state? I don’t mind being.. a delightful pup for the time being.” A scowl as he peeks out to regard Decebal. “And shut that fucking snobby baller off.” 


	20. Chapter 20

Putting on a fresh pair of coveralls over her bra and underwear, she rolled up the sleeves. After seeing the visual files that Nigel gave Scuzzy she was horrified to know that her dream had been real. She didn’t know how, but she had seen most of all that had happen, in little bits and pieces. It hadn’t been pretty, and no wonder he was so fucked up, and that also explained the served clone head. He didn’t blame in one bit, and she probably would have done the same thing if it had been her. She didn’t plan to tell him right away that she had see what happen in a dream, not yet anyways, she had work to do. After she was finished with the repairs, they would sit down and come up with a game plan as to what to do, now that they knew what some of the rebels had tried to do to the N1 unit.Seeing where Nigel was looking at the little robotic dog, she let out a stifled laugh when he mentioned the bot. She hadn’t thought of that, but now that he brought it up, it would do perfectly for a short-term host. “The dog would work, Ok yeah, and let’s do it.” It would make her feel better to know that he wasn’t in pain while she did the repairs to the unit. He could just chill out and be in the dog as a host for a little while.

“It would only take me a few days at the most to finish the worst of the repairs, and then I can put you back in your body.” Eagerly she walked over and picked up the realistic fluffy looking wiener dog. It was a bit funny to think that Nigel would be stuck inside this dog for a day or two. Oddly it made her glad that he couldn’t get into any real trouble for at least a few days while in a new host. She was now confident this would work, and new that it would probably be nice for Nigel to not feel pain for a little while. If she had enough time, she would upgrade his chips, and maybe introduce a new sense for him, or a trait, anything. It would be nice for Nigel to become more and more like his human counter part. Prepping everything was easy, and the robotic dog already had more than enough space to hold all of Nigel’s upgrades and chips. “Ok this will only take a few seconds, it will be like falling a sleep, and you’ll wake up in the dog. Then no more pain and I can get to work repairing the N1 unit for you.” She gave a reassuring smile, though it would probably be wasted on him, she had a good feeling about this.

She shut Nigel down for a few moments while she made the transfer, and also went and turned Decebal off, to give him some peace and quiet for a while. At least until he got settled in his new host. Scuzzy assisted her in the move, and when she had everything squared away, she doubled checked her work, and made the VIS-tablet do a scan to make sure she had everything hooked up right. With a confirming beep Scuzzy flashed a thumbs up, and gave her the go ahead for the next part. While she was at it, she had the SCSI back up files, and make copies of Nigel’s chips, memories, and personality traits, everything that made Nigel himself. It was all in case something happened to the unit that she wouldn’t be able to fix, such as in case it was destroyed beyond repair. That the rate he was going, she was worried he would get himself really hurt, and she didn’t want to lose him, not again. She was determined to keep him around as long as possible. Increasingly she was becoming more and more attached to the unpredictable android, sadly she felt like she needed him, more than he needed her. With that task finished, she turned the dog bot on, and waited for it to power up. As soon as she saw the dogs cute face turn his head and look at her, she jokingly told Nigel. “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.”

____

The looming thought confirms that there had no one to blame. Not his unrestrained anger, nor even the rebel scientists who assaulted him to reduce him to who he once was. An incapable, debilitated human full of hatred and doubt for the future. The hammering throb still present as his wrecked body continues to tremble as the visceral continues to tremble and taut as the contradictory human and android side reacts in opposite way. The fluids continue to heal once the hindrance strips away and his cutaneous exoskeleton, where there would be no existing receptors for pain nor touch for that matter, would be carapace over with new synthetic skin, resembling his coppery tone. Unlike normal humans, his nociceptors worked rather complicatedly differently; instead of notifying the imminent danger that would potentially threaten him by sending signals to the spinal cord and brain, instead, he would go overdrive and in this case, his human side had overridden the morality chip. Instead of shutting down, being a sentient being that he still was, had been internally hypersensitive. Excluding the cutaneous pain receptors, including thermal, mechanical deformation (unless his exoskeleton had been breached) and suspension of consciousness lest shutdown, his somatic and visceral sensory system had been the most high-strung feature that would drive his even high tolerance for pain in a tizzy. 

“If I can dwell in that tiny creature and be fucking pain-free even for a goddamn minute, then… WHAT? A few days?” It’d be definitely appealing to not live as a half-broken shell, but to be such a fragile little creature is the last thing on his mind in this whirling moment. Having been a soldier almost his entire life, well, a criminal before then, but the concept of coming over on top and being a dominant force at whatever he dipped his hands in had been innate, almost like a pre-installed software. Having lost his family to a blitzkrieg of Russians when they had been vacationing in Switzerland, not close to where the rebel base had been built. That memory is completely wiped off of him and unbeknownst to him, the Russian still had bits and pieces of his past, compiled in a most confidential file under high security. Since he hadn’t sought to destroying everyone and everything that had schemed to destroy him in the process to build an army without taking in the consideration of the ethics and morality of it, the underlying anger spreads even more into his consciousness. It swirls like a fire, disfiguring as the world’s excuse for being ugly manifests in every form. Within the countries that would only to be written in the history in the future if the collision of the opposite forces doesn’t shake the Earth’s core to bring human race into extinction, he had seen it all -  _ the corruption, unfathomable greed, politics, the control of power _ . The trite expression ‘the history repeats itself’ springs right into his shattered mind and form. Having been both the pawn and the sacrificed queen, the pawn to become the queen in an excruciatingly grueling process. The tug of war between the most coveted earth, where natural resources had been scarce, the Russian government had been relentless when accumulating it with their endless manpower and cookie-cut androids. 

Before he could be confirmed if Gabi had proceeded with the procedure before, his viscera feels about marshmallows underneath the armor. What had protected him to keep his entirety now feels like an useless, empty shell without any subliminal reflexes and a sanctuary. Falling asleep for real sounds about the all-healing elixir.  _ Safe and strong, the safe haven to heal the wounds from the past until new one comes along.  _ He speculates,  _ that will be fucking soon enough _ . Perhaps it had been nostalgia, literally the pain from all of his old wounds, the twinge in his heart that he fails to perceive as an android. Instead of this pressurized pain that would boil from deep within, he almost aches to feel that splitting gape of the skin. How it would be exquisite to be able to run a finger along the strewn shut flesh. The familiar opalescence looms as the last trail of incomplete thought hovers like a spaceship in a vastness of galaxy. He’d ride the time machine over and over again to feel human. Something to be tangible and extend a hand to genuinely caress someone to register the warmth underneath the imperceptible ridges of his own skin. Contrary to the aversion earlier, this could be the start of all, that one decisive step towards being what he used to be again. The sensation is akin to going under the numbing agent before a surgical procedure and once he opens his languid lids open. The extra sensation, the wagging tail, to his stupefied amusement, unconscious as the broken fragments of thoughts connects itself. He liked it so much better than his expectation from before. Giving a quick yelp and a growl as he perceives the motionless exterior of his original host, his small head tilts to the side, giving off a sonorous woof. “Do I look so fucked up, battered and bruised, but not broken. How did you like my performance as a canine? The software on this fluff is rather fucking splendid.”        


	21. Chapter 21

“You look very handsome, and thank you.” Pleased that Nigel liked the dog bot, she picked him up and set him on the floor, so that he could wander around on his own. Scuzzy made a happy little sound and buzzed around N1’s new host. With him making dog noises, and barking, it was too cute, and she could barely contain her excitement. She had never gotten to use the robotic dog before, and she was almost finished with it, right now it had no personality of its own, but with Nigel riding inside it, that didn’t seem to matter. “Try not to get into too much trouble, and I’ll try to work on your body as fast as I can, with out the good lab, it will take me a little longer, sorry…” Wagging a finger at Nigel she mentally told Scuzzy to keep a close eye on him. While he wasn’t able to blow shit up, and shot things as a dog, he could still cause trouble if unchecked. The last thing she had time for was cleaning up a huge mess in her house when she already had N1 to fix, and… there is the matter of her front door… with a sigh she rubbed her eyes.

She was exhausted and that few hours of haunting sleep that she had gotten had barely scratched the surface of how tired she was. Turning to the damaged N1 unit, she picked up her gloves and started to work removing the ruined synthetic skin, with that gone; it would allow the N1-G3L to repair the spots that were missing. Which in truth was almost all of the skin that covered the endoskeleton. He had been really messed up from that fire. Looking down at her feet she smiled at Nigel and told him. “I’ll give you a new upgrade while I’m doing the repairs. Might be nice, and I’d like to see how far we can push your capabilities.” There was an underlying tone of passionate nerdiness to how she spoke about upgrading the N1 unit. It was the sort of way you spoke to a loved one when they did something you were proud of, full of adoration and love. She wanted to take care of him, and give him the best she could as far as upgrades went. More than anything she wished she had the fancy lab she used to work in at the A.I.A.D. compound. There she always had everything she could hope for and more when it came to tools or parts. Here at home, she’d just have to make do, and improvise until she had access to something better.

Taking a break a few hours in, she went into the kitchen to make something to eat. Living on coffee couldn’t be good for her, so she had an instant pizza made; it only took a few minutes for it to be done.  She took the pizza off the large round disc that had cooked it, a transparent dome covering it. Getting a pizza cutter from a drawer, she made a bunch of slices and tore into it while it was still too hot. Staring into the glass door of her fridge she decided on getting a glass of water from the filter on the door. Sitting on a bar stool at the counter she nibbled on her piece of pizza, and remembered the severed clone head in the foyer, she suddenly wasn’t so hungry and tossed the half eaten food on a plate. Pulling a pair of rubber gloves from a pocket she picked the head up, with grimace on her face, and carried back to the lab, Nigel and Scuzzy both following her closely. She pull the head in a containment unit, to keep it preserved, she planned to take a look at it a while later when she didn’t have a million other things to do. Scooping up Nigel she set his dog bot host on the only other station table in the lab, and sat down next to him. Pulling her v-cig from its usual pocket, puffed away on it, and biting her thumb nail. “So how’s it being a dog?” absently she pets him on the head, while staring up at the ceiling. “If there is anything you want, just let me know. I know you don’t need to eat, or sleep really, but I’m sure there are things you still want, for yourself.”

___

Since he already gave the idea a go and he was game as long as he could be at least pain-free for a few days before everything got rather demanding for him again, the first surge of perception he could pinpoint was that this wiener dog bot had been more complicated and intricate than how he first registered him to be. “How come this fucking hot dog with four stubby legs has more sensory receptor than I do?” There’s longing and ache for letting him to accept in admittance that, no matter how destroyed and bedridden he ends up due to the nature of his former profession - and what he would be forever, until his existence would be seized or surpassed by the one(s) with more capabilities and abilities than him, he would be a consistent target both by the rebels and Russians. The most coveted treasure one could possess to have a striking advantage. Now having no one to trust except Gabi and her little squad, he hadn’t been this pliable nor docile until now. Droopy ears sway as his little paws stick out in mid-air, immovable as she puts him on the ground, the canine instinct fully takes over almost effortlessly. Although the necessity to eat and sleep wasn’t programmed in and he barely felt fatigued unless his body had taken the respective damage, the yearning for it is still there as he hadn’t been able to get a shut-eye on his own will. His shutdown state wouldn’t be the same as sleeping or dying. Now that he didn’t have to run on cortisol all the time in the battlefield as much, he could just expect himself to be rebooted with not having to jeopardize his recollections. Though, the truth of his regret, a desirous hunger hits him like a bullet and he cannot help but to confirm the ongoing recurrence. The fragility and awareness of human being, however excruciating and exquisite it is, he could not fully experience the nadir and zenith of it. 

When he had been going through an extensive training in the subarctic part of Northern European Russia, when he had been having a brief affair with his immediate superior, he had been following the Eskimo’s greeting as the cold weather prevented him from locking lips together. Rubbing the noses and through the negative spaces of their profile, every exchange of breath and warmth transferred would serve as a thin veil that would offer both solace and warmth in the midst of the harsh climate. “How can this fucking whisker-face ever get into trouble? I assure you, Scuzzy is rather pleased that I turned into this ball of fluff and is willing to turn herself for what she is to entertain yours truly. Aren’t you, Frisbee?” Having briefly, but all in all, effectively dipped her feet into the recess of N1′s memory, Scuzzy willingly accepts Nigel for who he is; surely being a smart-ass had to be some kind of mechanism to not lose his sanity in the times of beastly madness, a consistent and never-ending struggle for supremacy. Pawing at her coverall-clad leg as he sticks his tongue out in enthusiasm, his tail mirror the excitement as it twitches, soon to be swaying along with the parched wind. As isolated and barren the desolate ground had been with the ravaging trail of war, it seems as he could feel the tattooed recollections of footprints of both human and androids as he stands closer to the earth. “I know I’m with a capable individual, I trust your judgment.” 

He might look miniature and droopy, but his eyes carry the intensity of his essence as the intelligent and bold look takes over. After all, the breed had been badger hunters, deceivingly tough enough. Scuzzy finds N1 rather enjoyable in this state, although his attitude still doesn’t fade with the host transfer. With the lively disposition, the sausage dog takes off outside, roaming freely until his energy depletes. The breed mirrors his mischievousness and considerably loud, resonating and low bark and muscular body with lean and long frame. The barren environment and the wind, dry and grainy as sandstorm of the desert with nothing else to chase around as Scuzzy had to serve Gabi both as the illuminating light and a see-through scanner to register his endoskeleton in infinitesimal details. Not having registered the decapitated head in reconnaissance, he had been familiar with the military procedure, but hadn’t concentrated in full attention before with explosive anger subduing his human conscientious. First of all, the head didn’t mirror his own nerve bundles and nanotubes that attached his preexisting human part along with the central control system. His somatic cells taken solely for reflecting his likeness, it looked more seamless and mirrored a real severed head from a human. “That fucking head looks more human than I do with the transparent glass inset instead of the probe orbs. It’s abhorrent.” Instead of offering his insight directly to Gabi, he speaks through Scuzzy, knowing that Gabi has her hands full with N1′s shell. Flopped in all fours, he sticks his head out and sniffs the pizza, his muzzle pressed against still hot, melted cheese dripping with grease. “Weird and fucking hyper, but can’t seem to get over how disproportionate my legs are to the length of my body, no wonder my back hurts.” Perhaps the dog bot had been also created with the consideration of the canine’s traits as his own materialization. “Something to chase. Decebal would work nicely as my trusty fetching ball.” Black opal-like orbs narrow. There’s no fucking way in hell he’d let her pet his head in such a manner when he returns to his rightful place. The spark from his eyes grow towards the dock, where his potential victim sits silently.   


	22. Chapter 22

Laughing when Scuzzy makes a heart on her screen at the cute wiener dog version of Nigel, she has to agree. It suits him rather well. Answering his question from before she tells him. “The dog bot has more advancement, because I made it personally, and I took my time over three years to put my heart into it.” Sadly she gave him a sad little half smile. It hadn’t been the same for him, she wished it had. While she did design him, and come up with all his plans and blueprints, she had no hand in his manufacture. It still pissed her off that they stole her plans and made a lesser version of her Ubermacht. If she had been there to over see his construction, she was sure he’d be far more advanced. It was now, in her lab that she would finally and slowly start making the upgrades to put him on par with how he should be. “I was not there to over see your birth, but I’ll make things right, in time…” Scratching her nose, she lightly squeezed his tiny little paw, and put him back down on the floor. The click of his nails on the tiled floor of her lab made her smirk. “I’m sure you’ll get used to it, just before your set to go back into your own body.”

Seeing the line of his gaze towards Decebal sitting shut down on his docking station, she huffs out a laugh and gives warning. “If you know what’s good for you, I’d not mess with my computer, unless you want me to turn him back on. I’m sure he’d have a lot to say about your new form.” Chuckling she gets up and goes back to working on the N1 unit for a while, letting Nigel to his own devices with Scuzzy keeping an ear to the ground for her. After fixing the exposed nanotubes and wires around the eye, she could see the skin starting to finally regenerate; it would take a while for to it complete fully. She hadn’t even gotten to the inner workings of the unit; there was a lot of damage both internally and externally. Opening him up with a hand to the scanner lock, she looks inside the chest panel. Removing the hard drive, she holds the small part in her hand. The tricky thing with androids was that they had such intricate work on the inside. Taking the thing, she sets it down at her large work table desk, and sits on and old fashion stool with wheels. Putting on a pair of goggles so it can magnify her sight, she starts tinkering around.

Well into the next day, she got so tired that her eyes started watering, and she couldn’t stay wake any longer, she ended up going into the den and laying down for a few hours. She had to clean up the mess she left there first, she had forgotten about it in all the mayhem from the day before. After only two hours of fitful sleep, she was woken up by her doorbell, the chime scaring her out of rest. Sitting bolt up right, she remembered that her door was missing, and that she had the N1 unit and Nigel was a dog. Panic rose in her, she felt sick to her stomach, and jumped up and went for one of her pistols that sat on the coffee table. She could see Scuzzy glowing near by, whistled her over, she was tabbing through her home surveillance monitor on her VIS-tablet screen.  It was some agents from the A.I.A.D. upper ranks at her front step. Looking around she saw Nigel sitting on his butt, little stubby feet out to the side, and she told him in a hushed voice. “Stay out of sight, and go hide. I’ll handle this. And please don’t get us into trouble. I can’t… handle the thought of losing you again.” With that she hurried off down the hallway, lights coming on in her wake as they sense her body heat. Grumbling she muttered under he breath. “Yes this week couldn’t get any better, and I don’t have a fucking God damn door so why doesn’t everyone just come on the fuck in for some tea and cookies.” Eyes narrowed she hid the gun in her pocket and went to answer the… nonexistent door.

___

The new host brings myriads of new sensation which he hadn’t been able to experience for some while and even though as a human, he had been used to all extremities of temperatures and touch, his persistent training and hardened skin had numbed the senses. Of course, through the inner workings and carapace of what Gabi considers imperfect state of her prototype and blueprints, he is literally oblivious to most outwardly sensations. Temperature and humidity changes, heightened olfactory and auditory senses plus the innate canine traits. While he didn’t need to be fed to sustain himself, the once familiar acidity from the tomatoes and a trace of yeast and flour makes his moisturized muzzle twitch with interest. All the dust particles floating in the air as well as his salivating mouth, instinctive as dogs required less to fully satisfy themselves. As a robotic dog, he wouldn’t have to sniff his crotches and be territorial nor grow beyond exhausted. Through the indistinguishable seams of his muscles and joints, he could even feel each strand of his short and shiny fur, with its sheen accentuated by the shower of slanting orange glow from outside. The perception of time becomes meaningless, as his mind continues to unreel with the lingering thoughts of the scientists who had managed to kill himself and for those who narrowly escaped his unrestrained wrath. Whatever their intentions were, the one thing is certain. Probably worse than when he had been in the military. There might be infiltrators or international espionage who are on the lookout for most technological advances and forward thinking, to remain a formidable player in the war of androids. For those who intends to free them to be accepted as another deem-able race, instead of being mere pawns between warring of the humankind.      

Letting out a trailing whine, he confirms the unspoken words, that she hadn’t dipped her own hands in unfolding what had came out of her brain, barely meeting the N1 unit in person in more shoddy condition than how she had been formulated him to be. “Perhaps another addition that would be useful could be active denial system with the heating detection, more fitting to be a stealthy assassin. It’d make infiltration as easy as a pie and a projectile launcher. Since the fluids aid in generation of electromagnetic forces, it’d reduce the needless clamorous sound of all the casings.” Having learned the mastery of craft of being an crafty and sly one at that, since majority of his twenties and part of his thirties were spent in working as a hitman, he wasn’t completely new to assassinating an important figure or retrieving confidential information regarding the developing project or breaching into a highly classified area without much aid when the ongoing war just took off, as both countries sized each other up. Even with his human emotions running rampant, the war had sufficiently and effectively reduced him to be a tunnel-visioned, tried-and-true warrior, bloodlust straight from the heart with a single purpose for advancement and fame. Now gung-ho about personally terminating Madame Sapona and her ill-devised schemes, the intentions were clear as obviously one Ubermacht wouldn’t surpass and cut it. “He’d more bitch about my form and snobbishly blabber more about how fucking envious he would be. if I were him, I’d just buy the fucking argument that he would never be who I am as that’d be the gist of the matter, period.”

Deep into the night as his elongated head holds high to keep a watchful eye, the house remains fully illuminated along the isolated field, becoming a single boat out in the far away ocean. Continuing to scamper around the threshold of the den, then growing rather uninterested with the bleak view, his soulful orbs are the first to detect what seems to be intruders. In the blink of an eye, he retreats back to the blasted entrance, his quickened movement giving off a faint trail of smoke in the air. He could feel the loud bark pressing back against the hollow of his throat, about to be burst out in a deep resonance. Better knowing not to reveal his existence nor his quirky antics that would distinctively expose him out in the open, a lingering growl echoes through his barreled chest, a snarl flash as he complies. A spawn of anger becomes a sweet-looking venom behind the deceitful set of black, deeper than those artificial-looking hazel-crimson of the probes on N1 unit. It doesn’t even take him a nanosecond to come to his senses as he knows too well he doesn’t stand a fucking chance in this dog bot form, he instinctively utters in a whimper. He is not even aware that he had this plaintive and brokenness in him. Perhaps more adequate in this form and with the charred interior, exposing all of the viscera as none of the impeccable form he used to have is present along N1-G3L, all he could do is to find a safe haven. Giving her a long stare and having the most difficult time withdrawing the fixed look, Scuzzy informs him that there should be a secret latch leading underground to a cellar, a trap door easy, even for his dog form to open. His stubby paw on the scanner, his long ogle registers his form. Slender black body with spotted umber and white, innocent looking when he was the furthest from being one. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he cannot help but to peek an eye over the sight, hindered by the adjacent door of the lab where Decebal’s dock would be. Although used to the unsettling weight of the silence, as this particular form, it doesn’t help with the escalating uneasiness. The one to be always placed in vanguard having to retreat. 


	23. Chapter 23

At the door she is greeted by four A.I.A.D. agents. They are armed, but they don’t have their weapons drawn. Gabi put on her best innocent look, and tried to make herself seem as harmless as possible. “Hello, what can I do for you guys this early.” Haha… yes ignore the fact that my front door is missing and I look like shit. The one who she assumed was in charged eyed her skeptically and asked. “Have you seen the android known as N1-G3L?  _ It  _ has gone missing and we’d like to retrieve it.” Gabi bristled at the way the agent said IT like he was some sort of toy, or inanimate object. Breathing through her nose she that she didn’t say anything stupid to ruin this. “As a matter of fact, I have… sadly, the N1 unit attacked me.” She tried to play it off like she didn’t care and that she was pissed off. If anything she was going to give them everything they wanted with in reason, and show them that the android they were seeking was… no more. “I had him disabled for good. I couldn’t risk him coming after me again.” She gave them look that said she wasn’t happy about this development.

“Where is the unit now?” the head agent was glaring at Gabi like she were a spec of dirt on his shoe. Blank faced and annoyed beyond reason, she motioned them inside. “Well as you can see, he… it was an unstable android, he blew my door off the hinges to get at me. I have the destroyed unit in my lab you may see it if you wish.” Inwardly she groaned and just wanted them to fucking go away, they were ruining her calm. “How is it one nerdy mechanic such as yourself able to incapacitate that dangerous android? The  _ thing _ was a killing machine.” An agent with a small frame and green look about them asked her such an offensive question. She gritted her teeth, and clenched her fist, with her back turned so they couldn’t see her face. “I designed it… I know how to disable my own creations. I got off lucky though, the A.I.A.D. rebels at the lab did most of the work for me…” She showed them the empty shell of Nigel, while the unit was disabled at the moment all the important parts were removed from the unit, Nigel’s mind and spirit was safely in the doggie bot, and she had taken out the hard drive last night. “As you can see it’s useless now… and well it doesn’t matter I am working to make a better android than this one, the Russians did such a shit job… of it.”

As quickly as she could she ushered them out of her god damn house once they were satisfied. Though they made promises of coming back in a while to check on her progress on this ‘new unit’ that she lied about. It wouldn’t fucking matter anyways, by the time they come back, she’ll be done with repairs, and Nigel will be in working order. If they attack, or try to take him away, she’ll just ask him nicely to shoot them…Running through the house; she went looking for Scuzzy and Nigel. Were the mind to mind link she could tell were Scuzzy was.  They were hiding in the basement, under her secret exit and trap door. Smacking a hand to the scanner she opened the door. “It’s safe for now… come on out.” There would be no time to waste; she’d have to work extra quickly to get Nigel back online. “They will be back in a few weeks, I lied to them, but when they come back… We’ll probably have to shoot our way out or kill them.” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I’ll need all hands on deck for this, and Decebal’s assistance, if we wanna get you back in your real body ASAP.” Moving out of the way she let them through, and slammed the lid on the trap door. This was no laughing matter, and she meant business now.

___

Although his field of visibility is limited, he can place a good guess and hear that underlying, but painfully crystal clear contempt and animosity behind that single word that would kick off the start of the war. ‘ _ It, _ ’ and the unbidden degradation of Gabi’s competence. The society’s conformity had undergone drastic changes, but still, countless years of fixed norm of assigning gender-specific profession still marred the the field, especially in the military and scientific fields where it had been still male-dominated.  _ Who were they to place such atrocities upon the ones they didn’t know by heart? _ To him, things didn’t matter as long as people did their respective jobs and did them inexplicably well with utmost finesse. His superior Sergeant had been a capable woman, so was his  _ Pygmalion _ . As long as things remained check and balance and he was left independently without the shackles of hierarchical order, he didn’t mind being  _ Galatea _ , more of a submissive role that would shape him according to whoever individual who shaped him to be. His Sergeant, a subject of many things, once it had been his significant other and now she exists in a bare phantasm, a ghost of his fragmented recollections, both repressed and efficiently forgotten during the process of his transformation, had been a dualistic individual - he could easily judge Gabi had been the one at that, as did him. The war had drowned the other ‘him,’ only needing his violent streaks that could be malleable to bring the result. All romantic and sweet angel when they were alone, a cut-throat ruthless strategist when on battleground. Both of them having witnessed each other’s advancement and having learned many things he otherwise wouldn’t be able to if he hadn’t been with her. All in all, they simply refused to fit in the box, the confinement of military hierarchy and had been very individualistic, but their integrity had been greater than any rule book and the loyalty had been stronger than the pact of blood.   

A strange feeling washes over him as he eavesdrops to the conversation through the shut door and of course, there’s inescapable anger spawn all over his long and streamlined body. In more advanced shell of a dachshund dog bot, he could literally feel what seemed a foreign sensation from long ago. His veins throbbing and heart frantically beating out of control. It couldn’t be the real heart he had inside the endoskeleton, so it must be mimicked to function like the real dog. All the sensory perceptions were as real as they could get. Running out of his breath, the drumming intensifying along with those rhythmic clicking of four men’s long stride. Painfully aware as with each closure of steps, closer enough to feel their presence as they carry the scents of the wreckage; the charred flesh of the dead scientists and the permeated blood shed under his wrath. All the familiar awareness he had felt before resumes underneath the skin where the short and smooth fur seamlessly align with the robotic exoskeleton. The most distinguishable being the slithering anger manifesting faster than any other disquietude of affected state of consciousness, the perturbation spreads faster than a viral disease. Every single fur on his body standing in furor, he can just catch a glimpse of the head agent’s smug face - even with that flash of superiority complex above anyone else in the very room. The only thought surfaces;  _ I would whip you into pieces, quarter every one of your limbs to bring upon what you deserve. An excruciating death I have once upon faced. Supremacy reigns upon me, not you, with pros of both human and android present in my corporeality.   _

Etching those belittling words upon his heart to be shed when he completes his sole task at hand, the palpitation carries throughout his tiny frame. If his body hadn’t been made with heat-resistant nanotubes with more intricate inner workings than his original exoskeleton, his viscera would’ve disintegrated solely with the ongoing surge of heat, his anger, fully materialized. “I will personally sought upon their demise with my fucking hands. They have just sealed expiration stamp upon their fucking mushy heads when they spoke about me, no, us for that matter. I’ve already got designs.” Dashing away from the basement, he emits a vociferously loud bark, pent-up since it had been building up inside his barrel-like chest. Letting out a fume as he encircles around the lab, he lets a continual snarl crease his innocent-looking facade in a scowl. This recurrent feelings are like old memories; instead of being a mere visitors, they’re going to be the exclusive driving force for his actions. He won’t sought to people treating him like most other cookie-cut androids with no feeling behind them. When they open their eyes in death, they will surely see the rooted emotion, unabated as the sinews and ligaments separate from their fragile forms. Then, maybe they’ll get a little glimpse of his inner workings, combined with the indefatigable vigor along with the genuine emotion behind the probe orbs. “Do whatever the fuck you gotta do to bring me back into that shell. I’m gonna clear my damn mind off of those insolent fuckers and come up with a way to have them to turn into cadavers without having to trash your place.”     __

 


	24. Chapter 24

Over the course of the next few days, not sleeping once again, and eating very little, she works towards bringing the N1 unit back online. Tirelessly she focused everything she had on the task, utilizing Scuzzy to the max, and working out new upgrade plans on Decebal.  The computer had thought it was the most amusing thing in the world that Nigel was currently a wiener dog, unable to destroy anything. “Now that you are mostly harmless, I find you oddly cute. You should see if Gabi will scratch your tummy, I bet she would love that.” Decebal had told Nigel while Gabi was busy. At one point she had to separate the two of them, because Decebel wouldn’t stop harassing Nigel. While she couldn’t tell what her computer was saying from Nigel and Scuzzy’s end it wasn’t good. With the threat of the A.I.A.D. agents coming back at the end of the month, she didn’t have time to baby sit the two of them. When she was finished with the repairs she planned to look the upper ranks of the rebel faction. Things were very fishy around here lately; it was never like this when she first joined the faction.

Four days after Nigel came to her house in disarray, she had him fixed up enough that she suspected there would be no more pain. She had hammered out dents, removed shrapnel, and the synthetic skin was almost fully regenerated. The only things she had left to do were a few more upgrades and she could do all of that while Nigel was back inside his own body. “So what do you think Tinman, time to go back in your own body?” She stared down at the wiener dog bot fondly. She would almost miss the dog being so lifelike and with Nigel’s personality. If she ever had free time, she would finish the little bot up and then it would be like a real dog. “I’m sure you can’t wait to be your old self again. This time please try to be a little more careful, while yes you are almost indestructible, I am not… if I keep going like this I wont be around to fix you, and then where will you be?” She didn’t want to think about that right now, it wasn’t a very pleasant thought. The idea that if she wasn’t around any longer to fix him was really sad, so she brushed the thought away.

“Ok, same as before, only in reverse this time.” She had the dog host sitting on the parallel station table, so that she could make the transfer of hosts. Once Scuzzy and her had everything reinstalled and hooked up she powered him back on, watching the N1 unit come back to life. While she was doing repairs, she had given Nigel a new set of eyes. They like the one the wiener dog had were lifelike and no more probe like lenses. These were good enough to pass as human and no one would know the wiser. “I hope you like the new eyes, I thought maybe it would be nice little upgrade.” Staring into those eyes now, as Nigel woke back up; she knew she had made the right choice. They were still able to become little droids; the eyes just hid it better now. “You should slowly start to feel touch now, and it might be a little overwhelming at first, but it’s mild and toned down. The sense will be a lot more as you adjust to it.” She squeezed his hand to demonstrate the new effect, and let go, smiling. “It’s not much, but it’s just a little something to make you feel like your old self again.”  Once she had the last minor repair finished, she hoped to be able to give him some new emotions besides anger. If things worked out with the new sense of touch, he’d get a new emotion to go along with it. She hadn’t decided on what yet, but that detail could be worked on later. “So how’s it feel? Is it too much?” The new eyes of his seemed to pierce into your soul, and it made her fidget a little uneasy. She was just now realizing how hot Nigel really was… once she looked past all of her nerdy obsessions and took a moment to really focus on something besides mechanics.

___

Decebal’s egging on his damn adorable face spikes the brimming anger to the maximum. “If you don’t zip that fucking snobby mouth of yours up, you’ll be the first thing to be decimated without a fucking trace of your essence and soul.” Bringing forth his skill to get the gale inside his mind abated to a gentle ripples once again, he figures the only way of not jeopardizing her habitat would be to divert the attraction elsewhere. To manifest himself upon the ‘killing machine’ that he really was. As long as they confirmed and planted that idea, he would explode with raw, uncontrollable emotion. Although he had repressed most of them with the extensive training, it would be effortless for him to let go of all of his inhibitions to let the carnal stampede be rampant. The computer’s unending flurry of harassment becoming catalyst for what is imminently to come. He could even hear German version of Decebal’s insult, which he just lets it go through one ear and out the other. It’s just better for him to suck it up and do the right thing, otherwise the plan to have him repaired would delay. Nevertheless, the tremulous anger presents itself briefly as one time and he hurls the baller in the midst of the crucial upgrade. Baring his sharp teeth, he threateningly growls as the scalding heat of fulmination makes his innards to turn inside out. The corruption of rebel A.I.A.D aside, to his most dissatisfaction, his disproportionate, chubby paw couldn’t do as much to give a forceful swipe to make a nick along Decebal’s outer, sleek surface. Fuming and restlessly bolting around like a encircling freight train, he awaits for the completion of his original host. 

Alert and surrounded in a shroud of disarray, his energy level remains the same, although the little puppy’s body is more lifelike that he needed to take it a bit easy when his elongated and streamlined body would ache like how real dog’s fragile spine would emit discomforting pain. Barely eating and going all at length to see the repair and upgrades taken care of, the only thing he can concentrate to get his mind off of the explosive anger is to snoop around what she had been doing with curious set of opal-black eyes. It indeed is a real fixer-upper as he couldn’t bottle up his only dominant emotion he could present out in the open. Licking over her coveralls and then her palm, respectfully, as Gabi picks him up, his tail wags enthusiastically, his little chest sticking out as it continues to palpitate with such lifelike motion. Eyes darting between his restored body beyond reproach and upward to stare as her face, fatigue written across her forehead with heavy bags underneath the gray-blue, he cannot help a long whimper slip off after a series of enthusiastic barks. While he’s not averse to having her hand stroke his tummy before making back to his own body, he fears he would take an endless plunge of letting himself coiled over the perception of it. His own suffering is uncomplicated and as simple as ABC. He hadn’t thought how she had been suffering emotionally over her own creation.  

“That hadn’t crossed my mind, but yes, I’ll be more careful around this time.” Giving her a go as he resumes the position of a wiener dog bot as it had been situated on the bench four days before. The process takes much shorter time than before. Perhaps he had gotten used to it as it barely takes a blink of an eye. When his lifelike eyes turn on with a soulful vigor, the lingering weightiness makes it arduous for him to retain stability for the briefest time. Gabi’s words become something from a faraway realm, as the immobile body bolts upward, fingers curled around the ledge and smooths around the surface. Then, another jolt traverses upward through his arm as the cutaneous respiration and sensation returns. Gleaming hazel slowly blinks as he relishes the refined sensation around the probes. The seemingly seamless separation became even more unrecognizable as once they open back up, they remain unblinking, staring at his creator. stupefied with bewilderment as she clasps their hands together, the need to withdraw his own urges his biceps to tighten, she lets it go before he could carry his thought on. Although he knew how every tactile sensation was like, it was as if he had been reborn again like a blind man, perceiving the world all from wiped-out state. Her fingers are slightly calloused, telltale sign with persistent use of firearm and something else. “You weren’t a mechanic scientist before.” Instead of offering her his assessment as if drawn with opposite magnetic force, his fingers search for hers, pressing and entwining them together. “Those calluses are from pressing into a string instrument, perhaps from viola or cello.” A curious tilt of his head, as his other hand unconsciously adhere to her alabaster skin just underneath the jaw hinge, where he would feel the carotid throb with heartbeat.   


	25. Chapter 25

“How did you know… wait never mind, you’d be able to tell many things just by scanning, and now that you can feel touch, it just amps that up.”  She stood frozen in place while he had her hand in his again. He was inspecting her calloused palms like a little kid might. It would have been charmingly cute, if it weren’t for the unnerving way he looked at her. Clearing her throat, she muttered. “I used to play the cello a long time ago…” It had been her one true passion before the war broke out, and now all she had left was her talent for mechanics, and robotics. It made her sad just thinking about all that she lost. “It’s been about seven years now since, I-I probably don’t remember many notes anymore.” It had been so long since she picked up cello, it would seem alien to her now. With a start she realized she didn’t have any hobbies and passions of her own. Her love for building things only came about because of the war, and she was good at it. With his hand under her jaw, she inclined her head to the side looking at him curiously. For an android who was supposed to blend in and be an assassin, he stood out with his good looks.

Clearing her throat, she pulled her hand away and shoved both hands in her pockets. “I bet you were a real lady killer in your day.” She couldn’t help tease him, and it was her way of changing the subject. In truth she would have liked to learn more about his past, but she wasn’t sure what all he remembered now. With Scuzzy’s help, she’d try to compile what she could of the memories she had stored in her brain. It would be an interesting process. Awkwardly she backed up so that his hand slipped from her jaw line, and she bumped into the station table behind her. Turning around she busied herself with the now motionless robotic wiener dog. Picking it up she took it over to her desk and sat it down carefully. Until Nigel came along, she didn’t get close to anyone here at the Rebel base. There were a few people on the squad of scientists and engineers assigned to her, but they worked for her. They weren’t friends, and she found it difficult to try and make friendly small talk with them. She was all alone in the world, and it was rather depressing to think about. 

Heaving a sigh, she couldn’t help the visible shiver that ran down her spine. It had been so long since anyone touched her that it was like a shock to the system. She spent so much time around androids, or bots, that she had forgotten what it was like to have any kind of close contact. It was easy to forget how lonely she really was when she kept busy. With a free moment to assess her own situation, she realized that she was a lonely loser, with no friends or family. Her closest companion was a VIS-tablet and she didn’t really count her computer, because she couldn’t talk to him. Everything hit her like a ton of bricks; she was very tired, and mentally exhausted. She felt like an old lady, and was self-conscious of the fact that she probably looked like fucking shit. Breathing in deep through her nose, she turned back to Nigel. “Well I shall leave you to get reacquainted with your new sense. I’m going to turn in for a bit of sleep. Can’t get any work done if I drop down dead…” Slipping away before he could call her back or say anything, she went up stairs to her own room for the first time since she came back. Everything was just as she left it; she had a picture frame on her barren dresser. The frame flashed a series of different photos, each one displayed for only a few seconds. The photos were of her father and her, it was the only thing she had left from before the war. Stripping off all her clothes she curled up in a ball under a pile of heavy blankets, and cried herself to sleep. 

___

Memories come in wavy ropes, opalescent and in fragments. Faded and missing a few crucial pieces to link them together to form a cohesive recollection, but the general consensus to form chain links is there. Like Polaroid snapshots, they capture enough of the essence for him to reminiscent them. Failing to empathize with her, the plucked memory inadvertently blurts out, not revised and filtered. “I had been once appointed as a general commander and a captain to lead the invasion to Romania. All I knew at the time was that there had been an ill-devised scheme going on to crumble down the Russian federation and its S.R.C. to a rubble.” Failing to connect that particularly radical and abandoned idea had been soon manifested into his very creation as soon as Gabi’s blueprints were in the clutch of relentless Russian scientists, no one had been such a valiant soldier like him to match the criteria of being a top-notch candidate. It’s not the genuine condolence that spawns inside him, as he had been the means of bringing down the very city he considered his native home down to remains of dust and blood, her father’s death and the one of the last recollections that would be both the cause of trauma and source of excruciating distress. The phantasm of mellifluous serenade serves as both nourishment for his stunted and wilted heart and helps him to be in touch with his human side that had been stripped away. With a whirring of his arc reactor matching the palpitation of human’s heart, he ponders. Familiarity and longing doesn’t cut it, but deciding to snap the continual thought that continues to coil around his preserved brain, his expression remains impassive. 

There had been something effervescing, a sense of breathlessness that he hadn’t perceived when he had been transformed into an android. When things didn’t turn out like he had foreseen and through the desolate atmosphere of the war-ravaged earth, the love and lust had been his driving force, spinning him out of control. The sadness looms in the ambiance and his human side becomes aware - it is the forgotten innocence of love that made him mellow down with a simple pair of lips and a barely there caress that stirred him whole. Too amped up and occupied with awakening the senses and making connections to what he already knows with the senses, he knows the prominent pros and cons of gaining this particular upgrade; it would be easier to tear him apart as his network interface would make everything more intense and along with the cutaneous receptors. Like a concept of love, everything he had ever lost returns one by one, along with the touch. The connection between his corporeality and the world. His existence validated and not evermore feeling like he had been floating in space without a stable footing to ground himself. “Well, I’ve been like a mustang back in those days, with a tunnel vision, my greed only exemplified by brash boldness and the desire for an advancement.” So I could get more closer with my superior, well, until she passed away eventually. The morality and mortality had been overrated - there seldom had been serendipitous one as himself, most of them were riddled with irreparable injuries that would prove to be fatal and there would be endless stories etched on his body if he hadn’t been resurrected as a humanoid android. The immobile, lifeless wiener robotic dog just proved that,  _ as long as there had been a capable hand to move him around like files in a flash drive, he would live on forever, but would he ever feel the honesty of veins throbbing and tattoo the affectionate words like he once had been?  _

There’s still a disconnect as he explores the threshold of the lab and the rest of the den not as a dachshund, but back in his body. He perceives what the senses would be like without touching each and everything. That workbench would be leathery smooth, Decebal would be slick with almost imperceptible ridges letting him to move around with efficiency. Scuzzy’s surface would feel very fragile, easily bendable, yet as strong as the retractable blade embedded with diamond dust, she would be literally indestructible even with a bombardment of the blasters. Fingers curling, his matted, regrown hair veiling across the side of his chiseled face is all new and innate at the same time. Leaving Gabi in her solitude for a while, he gauges and gives her enough allotted time (in his guesstimate) for her to be sound asleep. Not only the earth ravaged, there had been arduous time to go through without having to realize they had been alone. Living half-broken in the arid desolate world, impotent with any bona fide interaction between skin to skin. That would drive anyone to become insane, and he finally is able to appreciate how impotent her presence it had been through it all. When his soul and essence floating in thin air with a valid host, then that would equal death for him. The droning sound inside him intensifies as he starts up the stairs and situates beside her curled up form. With a curious tilt, he waits with a patience of a viper until she wakes up with his front pressed against her back as his fingers run the length of her naked back. At least he knows, their relationship is symbiotic;  _ conducive and entwined _ . 


	26. Chapter 26

Sometime during her sleep she must have gotten hot and tossed off the mound of blankets. She had tossed and turned in a fitful sleep, from more nightmares. The dreams were of Nigel’s missing memories. They were in little snippets, like a flash of a slideshow of pictures. It wouldn’t be until she woke that she realized that those were the missing puzzles for Nigel. There was a myriad of different things she saw. Parts of his past, how he was a criminal, rising through the ranks as a military man. Some even of a woman, she didn’t know who she was, and she hadn’t been able to put a name to a face. The woman was never mentioned in her research of Captain Nigel Lecter. Some of the dreams didn’t make any sense and didn’t fit into the memory spaces at all. Her mind whirled with the strangeness of it all. At one point she was running full board through what looked like an underground subway system that was no longer used today. Next she found herself in some sort of club, everything moving in super speed, black and white strobe lights making her blink rapidly. While thick blue smoke danced in the air. She saw a strange man she never knew smoking a cigar, shaking Nigel’s hand. It was when she was in an odd bathroom shooting some man in the face while Nigel watched that she woke up

Gasping she her eyes flew open, her eyes blurry she tried to focus on the wallpaper, anything to ground her. Everything was spinning and she didn’t feel so good. Normally she had nightmares from when she was child, being taking from her home, watching her father be killed by the Russian invading army. Being treated like a pawn, most of the memories she had from being forced into the Russian military, she tried to forget. Some things no matter how hard you try to forget, wont go away. Boot camp had been bad, she was assaulted, beaten, and forced to do things she never thought she could. Things got better once she was put in the SRC they respected her, and that was where she developed a love for creating things. Startled she realized that someone was pressed up against her back, and she nearly fell off the bed, in her scramble to put her back to the wall. She was in full alert mode, standing naked against the wall, in a defensive position. As soon as she saw that it was Nigel, her knit brows softened and relaxed. “Imi pare rau. Nu mi-am dat seama că tu ai fost, Tinman.” It was now all too apparent that she was naked, and while he was an android, and probably didn’t give a shit, she still felt awkward as she was human, and it was something that made her embarrassed.Climbing back into bed, she wrapped one of the cool sheets around her middle, and laid on her side with her head propped up on with her hand. 

“You gave me a fright, I don’t normally wake up with strangers in my bed.” She snorted at her own little joke, knowing that she never wakes up with anyone in her bed. While she had in the past experimented with sex with women more than men, she felt very uneasy around males. After being assaulted by one, she had a hard time being intimate with the male species from then on. Things were different with Nigel, she didn’t feel wary around him, and she didn’t shy away from his touch. The androids were different, they weren’t programed to be able to rape or take advantage of anyone. There was something comforting knowing that she was safe with Nigel, that made her be so at ease around him now. Being so close to him, she could hear the soft humming sound of his inner workings. It was akin to the loud purr of a cat, and just as powerful. Staring at him now, she could see his soulful new eyes the hazel glinting in the dark there was just enough glow from moonlight to see certain features of his face. The scar across the bridge of his nose was something they had kept, and it was a reminder of human self, and only made him more charming. With a slow blink, she told him. “I think I have your missing memories.” She tapped a finger to the side of her head to indicate they were in her brain. For now they were safe where they were, when she had a chance, she’d have Scuzzy help her extract them or something. They would figure it out. She hadn’t realized that she had dozed off again, until she face hit Nigel’s shoulder. Jerking up awake again, she groaned… after not sleeping for months, all she wanted to do was sleep safe here with her new bodyguard.  

____

Strings of his memories were akin to a graffiti covered with countless layers of paint, the daredevil with an uncontrollable spirit underneath all the layers of his convoluted parts that formed his high-tech exoskeleton. Brashness and volatility effectively masked by the morality and straightforwardness of the robotic android. Of course, the touch of human side and all the other intricate receptors that run all the way down to to what is left of him makes him unique and difficult to predict the course of his actions. His tactile sense becomes a morass itself. It’s  _ entangling and succumbing _ . Like unraveling the tangled webs of ropes, or better, shattered glass pieces with unattainable faults and cracks that would mend more like a pastiche of scrap materials,  _ inconclusive _ , and  _ not cohesive _ . The silence whirls and invites warmth through Gabi’s naked back. It is brave and what she is doing for the mankind and androids is also brave. Like a vigilante who deems to sacrifice his or her life to a cause one believes in. The loneliness that all the heroes have and they’re going to be the one to survive against the world.  _ This day, you and I are going to make the escape and we turn ourselves into plunge into a undarkened sea, where no more of the mystery dwells.  _ He had heard the corrupt rebel’s promises of returning forth and that would be the start of it. They’re the only one that would be blessed enough to set sail across the billowing waves and wild squalls, sweeping wrath of nature and predicaments. The tangibility becomes a confetti of overwhelming perception. Through his enhanced stimuli, everything becomes amplified tenfold. He could even feel the floating dust and an imperceptible change of temperature through his state-of-the-art central system. 

Each mound of blanket, becoming a flaky layer through the carnality and cornucopia of the road towards the fornication he had been intimate with, his five dimension of pleasure gets thrown out of whack. The purpose behind his creation and the side he allies with is evident. The traits that hold him together through this day, his  _ confidence _ ,  _ achievements _ ,  _ security _ ,  _ self _ - _ esteem _ , all holds him together like entwined bodies of lovers during copulation. The distinction becomes as blurry as the blending atmosphere of the earth and horizon like ravaged battleground stretching thousands of miles away on the desolate earth. Everything wasn’t as clear cut as everything. How he longed to run to the shoreline, feeling the initial cold burst of water on his ankles and wiggle his toes in it. Like nonexistent memories of his childhood years, long gone and vagabond as he had spiraled down. So young and reckless, everything more in a blur of a dense fog. The ephemeral memories are akin to the shells under the clutch of his small hands, ebbing away from his fingers before he is able to firmly clasp his hands close. The memories fail to solidify as a grain of sand turns into a pearl in a solemn patience. The greatest pleasure taken away and him reduced into a finite being who is capable of feeling with limited access. The complex intricacy with vehement limitation, something capable of glistening turns to be waded deeper into the unfathomable ocean. Beyond reach. The air feels volatile, even before she jumps up literally ten feet and stands opposite from him. Having worked as a bomb neutralizer and detonator, both the anticipation and overcoming the nerve had maintained him to be stoic in situations like this. His android functions immensely helped this as well. Not even blinking as his head angles ever so slightly, in full of curiosity and expectant gaze. “ _ Presupun că reacția a fost de așteptat. N-am vrut să te sperii _ .” It wasn’t his intention to scare her nor he was able to judge her reaction. Although, it remains crystal clear through the fleeting touch of his fingertips against the dimple of her back.    

Again, the disconnect with his brain -  _ what he recognizes  _ \- and his central computing system -  _ with the absence of sexual desires _ \- collides. He can definitely distinguish the lifelike fur of the wiener dog from her hair, real as it can ever get, the fire in them, slightly greasy. Nothing is quite bittersweet as perceiving all of these mingling sensibility to fully abrupt into a complex and multifarious elements. “I don’t think I am programmed to scare the be-fucking-jeezus out of anybody, unless that individual deserves to deprived of existence. All the more reason when they try to assault both of us.” With the absence of tear ducts, it would’ve been hard for her to distinguish the bed of sorrowfulness behind those hazel, if they had been real pupil with expanding irises with the dawn of light veering across the small bedroom, they would have remained dewy and wavy. “Memories aside, why don’t you get some more shuteye? I don’t want to pick up your dead carcass off the den and to see everything incinerate in whole with my soul nowhere to go in the vast wretchedness.” Words trail like melodious lullaby with contradicting neutrality and impassiveness, he doesn’t dare make a single movement, still enraptured by the new sense that continues to easily amplified. It’s like dwelling in the enchantment, a new ability he hadn’t been granted before. Enriching in what it seemed to be a fleeting dream from the past, instead of speaking words or breathing for the matter, his arc receptor pirouettes around to hum and whir. With his spine awkwardly stretched and taut in invisible mold, he lets her body settle down and feels the intense warmth and steady ebb and flow of her heartbeat. Like a rowboat on the serenity of the pond on a clear day, he lays back against the bed with a protective arm wind around her back, his body acting like a firm mattress underneath her weight. His fingers are a bit rough, inelegant at best with lack or practice, but the genuineness is there, if Gabi could ever become aware.   


	27. Chapter 27

After dozing some more for a little bit, she wakes up to find N1 just where she left him last. He was acting like her personal body pillow, while she napped. She had taken his advice and got a little more sleep. It would be a some time before her body bounced back from the stress she put it under. It was now full light out, and so she flipped back the covers and sat up, using a sheet to cover her front. Yawning and stretching out like a cat, her bones creaked. In the light that shone through the window it was now apparent that she was covered fairly heavily with tattoos, mostly in places that could be hidden with clothing. Since she was always clothed head to toe, in long sleeves, and giant baggy jumpsuits or coveralls you’d never know. Being in the SRC she was just a drone with no personality of her own. The year that she came to the A.I.A.D. base she went crazy and felt the need to express herself for the first time since she was thirteen. Her tattoos weren’t anything specific, they were just geometric and blocky. With patterns of triangles and bars up and down her arms. They ran across her chest and snaked down her side to curl around her hip.

She even had her nose pierced which most of the time was concealed with a near transparent retainer for when she was working in the lab. People didn’t to notice it unless it was pointed out. Since she was no longer working for the A.I.A.D.’s main laboratory she could switch out the retainer for a small dainty stud if she wanted. Her short cropped fiery hair also went from a buzz cut the Russian military gave her to what it was now a sort of pixie-faux-hawk, shorter on the sides longer on top. It was currently a mess and she ran fingers through her hair. She was in severe need of a shower. Glancing at Nigel side-long she wondered if she could give him a bath if he needed it. It wasn’t like he got sweaty and smelled or anything. He did get dirty, but most of the time she just washed him off and wiped him down with a cloth in the lab. “Did you think you’d malfunction if you got wet?” It was a really random question to ask someone right off the bat when you first wake up, but she wasn’t exactly normal. With a cheeky grin she told him. “You are welcome to take a shower, or use anything in my house if you like. Mi casa es su casa.” Making him feel at home was important to her, and now that it seemed like he’d be staying with her for the long haul, she wanted him to feel comfortable around her.

Just because he wasn’t built the same way she was didn’t mean he didn’t want a place to call home or somewhere he could feel safe. Yeah she might have designed him, but she didn’t view him as her property or some gadget she owned. To her he was just as individual and alive as she was. “Do you get hungry Nigel?” Her nerd mode was starting to kick in and she wanted to ask him a bunch of random questions. While yes she had designed him, he was so lifelike and human she wondered what all he wanted, or liked. Did he want food, or to take a shower, maybe he wanted to experience life the way his human counterpart did. He obviously had memories, and those were from his life, so there was clearly more there than met the eye. Really just wanted to treat him how he wanted to be treated, and give him the respect any sentient life form should have. Her whole face turned beet red, when she realized too that he was anatomically correct, and that he may want or like sex. Right now she kind of doubted it since his only, known emotion she could recognize was anger and all of its subtraits. The emotions love and lust would definitely be one of the last ones she would test out on him. The last thing she needed right now was some raging hormonal horny android running around her house with super strength, yeah that would go over well. Turning, she sat cross-legged next to him and gave him her front attention. If they were going to be spending a lot of time together, she might as well get to know him.

____

With her sound asleep and the comfortable weight of her pressing down against him, gentle and form-fitting, he relishes the opportunity to explore the naked body in whole. Without all the inner workings that would separate him from his former counterpart and with all the synthetic skin regenerated to coat his exoskeleton, the imperceptible seam would make it very difficult to distinguish him from other human, lest his incomplete strands of secondary and tertiary emotions absent from his conscience. He only was capable of feeling one or two distinguishable attributes; mostly driven by vengefulness, hatred and outrage towards the ones who used him solely as a puppet and an expandable in a raging war. While she still slumbers, his scanner had already fully mapped out the intricate designs of her geometric tattoo, stretching over her collarbones, all the way down to her breasts and the subtle curve of her hipbones. Cocking his head to take in the stark contrast of her alabaster skin with drastic weightiness of the black ink, without any shading nor a particular meaning behind mish-mash of forms with what apparently seems meaningless. Gabi doesn’t register to him as being particularly religious or spiritual, but as he had been covered with them and had been an ink veteran, he could draw out some kind of meaning behind what it seems to be done in an ornamental fashion. Perhaps she sought an order and perfection through the chaotic times.  _ Wasn’t attaining balance and harmony has always been the primary goal of human existence after all? _ With countless lives already perished and their own lives already ravaged with irreparable damages, like cubes and tetrahedron scattered around her forearm might symbolize the very event of sweeping fire on the earth, his own once had been adorned with skulls and flowers. Phoenix rising from his own ashes, as if he had been foreseen his own life as a soothsayer.  

“The reason why you’re covered in ink - is that because the prerequisite for your happiness had been taken away by the life in A.I.A.D.? Perhaps it had been done to distinguish yourself or to keep yourself in a safe haven without losing your unique identity. I had done the same when I had been in the military.” Raising an eyebrow with an arm propped between his head, curious fingertips explore the closest thing he could touch at the mention of taking a bath - his ashen blond hair. The burnt ends of the strands were already regenerated, just like how his somatic fluid within him would work to mend up his viscera. He doesn’t remember being washed or doing anything to his hair. Always having had a crew-cut or shaved very close to his scalp, the growing hair feels strange against the receptors, thick and straight, the color seems lighter than the dark patches he used to shave off from the side of his head. “If it takes a barrage fuck of firepower to get me down to a shutdown mode, I don’t see water doing much harm.” Unclothed state doesn’t even bother him one bit and it goes both days, looking at her and also aware of his own. Having perceived that at least Russians went through a trouble or two to keep some of his distinctive features intact, he could place an well-educated guess that his right arm tattoo sleeve had been stripped off to hide his already standing out appearance. “Considering you’re my supposed creator, you sure is utterly horrendous at making advances.” Pulling himself away from the mattress like a roly-poly, his stature is like that of a vehement statue. His days in military still ingrained to his mind.  _ Order _ ,  _ symmetry _ , a lot of things that turned out to be extravagance these days.  

“Maybe those stingy Russians didn’t want my appetite to waste their previous resources on feeding the Ubermacht. Nothing goes in, nothing comes out, I see the appeal and I know how everything tastes like, so it’s a  _ fucking win-win situation _ .” The last sentence drawls with both accentuation and contempt. It might be a good trade-off for some people, a quasi-immortality in an absence of carnal pleasures of having that hint of zest in the life. He would never be able to relish that army food ration after a grueling training in the field or that succulent steak and a glass of vintage Bordeaux with his significant other. All the things he had been unappreciative for, now became the subjects out of his clutch. When war machine reduces to a mere lifelike doll, things became dull. Feeling like Adam before taking the bite of the forbidden fruit, there’s no other unknown or uncharted territories he could explore; of course, regaining tactility had lasted a while. He didn’t need much snooping with that as his recollections from the past and being a wiener dog had significantly reduced the sensation of it, minus her body. “I am probably sealing the stamp in your evaluation of me, what you think is correct - I know what everything is supposed to feel like, but as basic and uninteresting as it gets, the sensation doesn’t have anywhere to travel and it fails to give me any more complex and further associations than being literal.” A subtle hint of devious grin is there when he mutters out the next sentence. “As I’d know why you’re blushing, but I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, although I know very well what  _ that  _ is in the brain. So enlighten me, would you want me to take a shower with you while I rake my nails against your back? It would be an entertaining sight, but to  _ what end _ ?”


	28. Chapter 28

Inwardly she was double face palming herself at the fact that Nigel knew why she was blushing. Also at the, matter of fact way he offered to take a shower with her, and do things… Instead she just sort of stared at him stupidly. She was torn between her fascination of him, and wanting to run and hide in embarrassment.  At least he had answered a question for her that she hadn’t even asked. Climbing off the bed with a sheet wrapped about her like a toga, and she pulled a robe of the back of her door and slipped it on. Laughing and shaking her head, she told him. “As wonderful as all that sounds, I think I’ll pass on the back scratching and just go for a shower.” Who knew an android could be so naughty, it was definitely something new to her. She had not designed the N1-G3L to be so human, so it was nice to be surprised even by something she created. All of that had to be part of Nigel Lecter’s personality, and knowing that they had kept him as like the real thing as possible it would have been really fun to know him under different circumstances. What there life would be like if they were just two normal people, and not a defecting rebel and an android. They were both from the same country and city even, it could have happened, if the war hadn’t ruined everyone’s life.

Saving the gloom and doom thoughts for another day, she yawned, leaning up against the dresser. While androids were as of right now just used for war and pawns in a great chess match, she had grand dreams of what they could be. How they could be just like a whole new race of people, given the proper craft and tlc. To her he was just like everyone else, while he lacked certain emotions and responses currently, she would remedy that soon. If things went as planned, he’d be just as good if not better than anybody else. She had to wonder what it would be like having sex with him, if it were possible. If she succeeded in all of her upgrades and enhancements, she saw no reason why he couldn’t have fun. That was one thing she’d gladly offer herself up as a guinea pig to test out. She’d probably be the first person ever to sleep with an android, and that was something she could live with. It wasn’t as if he were hideous or scary looking. In fact he was down right sexy, so it wasn’t as if there would be any arm twisting. Scratching her nose, she could feel a blush spreading across her features again, so she turned around and changed her retainer nose stud out for something cute, for a distraction.

Turning back to where Nigel still lounged in her bed, she offered. “Your welcome to join me in the shower… just not to do that…” Chuckling she gave a little shrug that could have meant everything and nothing at all. “It’s up to you, bathroom is down the hall on the right if you plan to join me.” With that she fled before she could say anything else. She was really not good at these sort of things, and she didn’t want him getting ideas that she only want him around for sex or some stupid thing. Good lord it sounded even more terrible in her head. Standing in the bathroom she looked at the bags under her eyes in the mirror. Sure she was a lonely pathetic loser with no friends or life outside work, but whatever… Who cares, it’s not as if she had anything better to do. It had been so long since she had any kind of relationship or a friend that it was strange to have Nigel around all the time now. She was tired of being lonely, and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Brushing her teeth first, she grabbed some towels and touched a finger to the flat screen to adjust the settings of the water. She let her robe drop to the floor in a pile, and hopped in the the large stall with glass doors. The water felt nice against her skin, and she leans forward resting her arms against the titles letting the heat soak in.

___

The copulatory imagery, both etched onto the little fragments of brain cells and creases and fleeting as dipping a hand into a illusion through an eye trick, it creates a hollowness which he cannot mend nor fill to the brim. The mischief along with a subtle curl of amusement vanished from his facade, his hazel orbs flicker along the edge of his irises, scanning her unclothed form underneath the sheets and the robe. “Do take the shower and as my most latest revelation via my new set of precious eyes confirm that you are horrendously suffering from indigestion and congestion. A severe food clogging, as known as constipation. Considering how little and scarcely you eat and you might be suffering from psychological issues, I think you might want to talk things out?” Behind concerned string of words, there’s detachment present through his android facade, which remains without any visible emotion. The pupils dilated, the green specks, mirroring much closer to human counterparts begins to glow in an effulgent crimson. His arc reactor continues to whorl and mimic the purr of the leopard, resting idly as the central screen flashes many data, flashing through the list of ingredients available in underground cellar as well as her less than well stocked fridge in the kitchenette. He doesn’t reminiscence himself of being an excellent cook nor a gourmand, but he had been thrown into myriads of survival situation to make easy yet savory dishes, nostalgic of his native country. Perhaps a simple  _ ciorbă de pui  _ would do. A hearty chicken noodle soup with simple pantry staples. Even with the absence of all the root vegetables, a few cans of diced tomato, chicken stock and frozen chicken, along with few eggs will suffice. 

Until those perpetrators - as whoever tries to cease his existence or provoke him or Gabi in any matter possible had been considered his arch-nemesis - of this heinous crime invades their sanctuary once again with insolent rudeness, he couldn’t remain lethargic or be unproductive. He had to come up with a game plan to divert them away, without jeopardizing the habitat and decimate them no matter what cost. Then, figure out a way to sneak into the rebel base and assassinate Madame Sapona to throne Gabi in that very space. A well-deserved spot that would be, a true queen who would respect androids for what they really are capable of doing. With that thought still implanted deep within him, the most prioritized one next to his current interest; that damned shower as the curiosity gets the better of him. It’s nothing out of what he already is aware of, but even with his heightened tactile sense at large along with his ability to find out without even speaking to her, the conception is too good to pass. Most often, he had been a happy go lucky guy, who had to be cheerful about most all things out of all things barren and demolished with war. All the empty shells of concrete buildings, now skeletal with reinforcing rods jutting out everywhere. Through hell and all, having a positive view on life and to always annoy the shit out of his comrades and to just be a smart-ass shithead.

Breaking the tensed exoskeleton mimicking the musculature of a resting face as a radiant grin slowly spreads from his lower face, the slanting moonlight makes his unblinking orbs to gleam like flawless crystal. “It’s not a suggestion, you want me to join you in shower. If you want to be the test subject to be participated in, all you have to do is.....  _ ask _ .” Now, he’s more entertained by observing rather than participating in the act, as he wouldn’t feel a thing, except the cutaneous sensation of being inside Gabi. If he was going to take his mind off for even infinitesimal amount of time, he’d take the propensity to yen towards pleasuring her. Even when she hadn’t requested it, he would’ve walked into the shower long ago, but he waits with the patience of a camouflaged predator, stalking in the shadows to find the right countenance to throw the prey off its legs. If he could fully manifest into an assassin android with the added ability of fully manifesting into transparent nothingness along with being able to pass through any infrastructure freely as possible would do well. If he had been able to, Gabi would have no fucking clue whether he would follow her into the bathroom or not. What he was dexterous enough to do was to be agile and quiet enough for her to not hear even one of his footprints down the narrow hall. Silently walking into the faint shroud of steam building upward inside the glass shower booth, he winds an arm around her exposed chest, just underneath the small curve of her breasts and stomach. “ _ Cum te simți acum _ ?”   


	29. Chapter 29

“Esti mereu acest irezistibil ?” She wasn’t at all shocked when he joined her in the shower. Curiosity was strong with this one, and she just had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to stay away. As much as she would have liked to have some fun and experiment with Nigel, she was in truth clueless as how to proceed with him. His being very straight forward and off the cuff had a tendency to throw her off her game, and she didn’t quite know how to handle him. With his arm planted firmly around her middle, there was no getting away, and it felt nice to be held. Normally she always had her guard up 24/7, taught from some years in the Russian military to always be wary. With Nigel she knew that she could relax, and it was odd relinquishing that control now.  Leaning her head back she let it rest against the firm expanse of his chest. There were two wolves inside her fighting over what she wanted most, one wanted to experiment and just let go for once. The other was that deeply rooted nerd, that wanted to explore every inch of his body, finding out what made him tick. With him being so unique, it was a strong urge to not open him up and tinker with his inner workings. All though he was clearly offering himself up as a willing participant for sex, she knew that while he could feel it now, the pleasure center of his senses wasn’t yet installed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until I’ve upgraded you more, to have a little fun?” It was her last ditch effort to make sure that it was what he wanted, and not some innate programed flaw for him to do anything and everything she wanted. It was important that he had free will, and could say no if he chose to do so. He looked and sounded for the most part utterly human, he had fucking chest hair, which she just now was taking note of on a physical level. Before in the lab she worked mainly on autopilot, she treated him as a doctor might a patient all clinical and business like. Now clearly not in the laboratory, but alone, without Scuzzy or Decebal around she realized that she had grown very attached to Nigel. She was proud of him, and wanted the best for Nigel, and would do anything it took to make sure he was given the same opportunities at happiness that she had. It was obvious he wasn’t just all killing machine and no play, he held conversations with her, and even stayed with her while she slept. Looking back on it now it was rather endearing, and it make her warm down to her toes, to know that he was trying, to be better, and or more than what he was initially made for. She loved him for that, and it was proof that she had been right all along. Given the chance, he could be much more than metal and parts.

Twisting around in his inhuman grasp, she stared up at him, with a look of adoration. Reaching up she touched fingertips to the singed locks of hair that fell down in his eyes. In the lab she would cut the ends for him so that it could regenerate, she made a mental note to remind herself. There was a strange feeling that she had growing in her heart, that she couldn’t explain. Taking the shampoo, she squeezed out some into her open palm and started to wash Nigel’s hair. There was a need to take care of him, and now that she knew for a fact that no one could take him away from her ever again, she was determined to see to it that he was happy and well cared for. Even if he didn’t feel joy, pleasure, or love, it didn’t mean she couldn’t show him the kindness he deserved. She had to stand on her tippy toes to be able to reach the top of his head well, and she worked the shampoo into a thick lather. It was soothing and something simple that allowed her to forget the looming threat of the upper ranking A.I.A.D. agents who wanted to come back and ruin everything for her. This was the happiest she had ever been since she lived in Romania. If she had to die to protect this what she had here and now between the N1 unit and herself, she would gladly give her life up for it. It was a little frightening to know that she wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in her way, or that she had no fear of dying to make sure Nigel was free. It was liberating in a way, and fearlessness is what would take her far in the long run. Rinsing off his soapy head, she watched the water run down his face, slicking his hair back, and knew that her fate was now sealed. “Voi avea mereu grijă de tine , Tinman.”

___

Letting the cascade of water cup down the length of his prominent features, the sensation is both strange and refreshingly different as he doesn’t have to blink with the absence of tear ducts and all the other involuntary movements to protect the eyeballs. He wasn’t even aware of it and he had mirrored Gabi’s blinking whenever he could, as his unusually long gaze that seems to turn into Medusa’s petrifying one would cause anyone to jump a few feet, despite being used to it. A faint hovering and flickering of gleaming blue along the outline of his irises continue as he can make out all the minerals inside the water - down to the minute percentages. Range of chemical elements such as sodium, calcium, magnesium, hydro-carbonates and lesser amounts of iron, copper, manganese, fluorine, bromine, iodine and a series of micro-elements are present through the analysis of chemical compounds. More thorough speculation would reveal more various combinations and those will vary depending on environmental conditions. For the location and just how deserted her house becomes, like a lone floating boat out in an open vast sea, the water maintained its softness with few dissolved calcium and magnesium ions. “I thought you were the one who said I was a lady killer back in those days, so I would have to confirm the story holds up with some sort of validity.” The fornicating desire isn’t instilled in him just yet, but it is the sheer inquisitiveness that drives his actions, propelling his head to be tilted towards the crook of her neck. “Although my upgrades can improve with the technology and as time goes on, I think I am more driven with desire to see you crumble your own fortified walls of the past,  _ to let go _ .”  

Through the scanner, it would be effortless to tell where her bundle of pleasure lied inside her, now flat surface swelling up to be stimulated with his fingers. All the logistics are there, through the means of his mechanized parts. All statistical and calculated down to how long it would take her to achieve spurting orgasm. His sole anticipation and intention lies if he could elicit the same response without his previous knowledge of the women’s body fully intact. Of course, right now, he would be only drawing the notion of repeating what he knows through the gestures. The curve of his finger mimicking particularly a seductive gesture, his attempt at snaking between her legs would be somewhat awkward, a bit rough as he tries to part her legs apart. Like a severed connection, his movements outside the reason for his creation would need a significant improvement, but he tries, like trying to pantomime through kinesics. “I think this could constitute as me having a little fun, if it was a mere curiosity that drove me here, then you might be wrong on that. All my fucking life I’ve seen people either trying to utilize me for their own good in defiance of letting my beliefs known or it was through coercion. No matter who I was, I was just a middle-rank, relentless soldier, blinded by urge to be recognized and advance through the ranks.” Abruptly withdrawing his fingers from the small folds of her sex, his palm reflects a movement of a slithering worm, gliding along the curve of her hipbones as she pivots around from his relentless grasp. 

More he wants to shut the whorl of the irises and pupils drawing helix-like movements, all the intricate nanotubes seem to be at overwork, computing and letting him know her vitals. Slightly flushed, elevated heartbeats palpitating through their adhered skin, front to front. His arc reactor continuing to spin and faintly chirp as a faint clicking sound mirrors the pump of the blood through the arteries. It’s unusually steady and slow, his programmed function only be able to go haywire when provoked or damaged enough. So why not shut off his visual onslaught and let him immerse in the wholesome sensation of her fingers moving through him like a sighing breeze along the parched sand? As his own rhythmic whirring and the faintest pivot of his inner workings moving about, he fights to keep his broad stance and having his deep, almond-shaped lids to open back up. Through the veil of opalescent foam and the lingering pressure of her nimble, firm fingertips still leaving the trail along his scalp, he looks through the curtain of ashen blonde back, as the dripping water turns to become the sonorous tunes, mimicking the serenity of the occasion. Having so used to the bombardments and flurries of blasters and bullets and flashes of grenades than to have propensity to relish relaxation such as this, he would always dance along with this rhythm, for as long as the melody lasts. “And as a reciprocation, I will always protect you no matter fucking what.  _ Voi împlini și satisface cererea creației mele _ .” Fingers curled around her hips, he sinks against the tiles of the shower booth, glissading through her abdomen to reach between her legs to mold his lips like a suction cup.   


	30. Chapter 30

With all the touching he was doing, and the intimacy of getting to wash his hair, she was alight with pleasure, and overly sensitive to the touch. It had been so long since anyone laid hands on her like that, she almost forgot how much she enjoyed it. He is firm with her, yet he doesn’t exude too much super strength that she knew he was capable of. It was an odd and gentle gesture, that was somewhat exciting to know that he wanted to make her happy because he wanted to, not because it was something she wanted. With the water running down both of them, it’s sensual and endearing. She closes her eyes enjoying the way it feels to have his skin caress her own. When he vows to protect her no matter what, her eyes open with a little flutter. It was possibly the nicest thing anyone had ever told her, and it meant the world to her. All things considering, with the way the world was now, and the fact that she was on a wanted list by the Russian military, the vow meant so much more to her. Tears glittered in her eyes, but got swept away with the water cascading down her face. For a brief moment her head rests against his chest while she hugs him tight to herself. She didn’t want to let go, the need for any kind of close contact with another was overwhelming. The question of ‘how had I let myself go for so long without this?’ kept looping over and over in her head.

When Nigel went to his knees before her, she shuddered with need, mouth parted in a tiny gasp, as his lips trailed down her abdomen. The hard steely grip of his fingers against her hips, has her held in place, and it’s a good thing too, as her knees grew weak from his touch. She was already wet from the way he was teasing her before the hair wash. Now she even more turned on, her hands going to either side of his neck. Balancing herself, she was nearly bent in two over him. She had to steady herself with the hold on his shoulders to keep from toppling over. Trying to stop herself from making too many undignified noises, she told Nigel. “You must have been good, cause fuck…” Whatever else she was about to say was cut off, as a moan stole away all of her words. Pressing her face to the top of his head, she pet his hair, and laid kisses to his temple. Whispering promises to him, “Poți avea pe mine oricând vrei . Pentru totdeauna , minunat meu.“ she made a silent vow to herself to do everything in her power to make sure he would want for nothing. Her perspective of their symbiotic relationship was now very different from just a day ago. She didn’t think he could mean more to her than he did now, but he was everything to her. He needed her to work on, and repair him. She needed him because she was lonely, and had no one that she cared for, and was all alone in the world.       

Breathing heavy, and panting, fingers clutched in his hair, she held on to him while he ate her out. He was good… very very good, and certainly knew what he was doing with his tongue. “Oh la naiba, fucking hell… where have you been all my life.” She could barely hold still, as he teased her evilly with his powerful tongue. Writhing around in his arms, the only thing that held her still was his vice like grip. With his mouth like a suction over her sex, she was bent so far over that her small breasts brushed the top of his head. This was possibly the steamiest thing she had ever experienced. No amount of messing around, or shared intimate moments in her past had prepared her for this. She was counting her blessings right now, not only was he fucking gorgeous with and interesting background, but he was talented in certain ways as well. He spoke Romanian and was from the same country as her, she felt like he was somehow tailor made just for her. Oddly enough, she had no part in who he had been modeled off of, or how he had been made. It felt like it was meant to be, and their connection ran very deep. She cried out in ecstasy at the things he was doing to her, and the firm hold he had on her ass, fingers digging in and using it as leverage to move her around just where he wanted her.    

___

Feeling her weight shift as her upper body looms over his slouched figure, he doesn’t have to look up to confirm that whatever he ministered her had been effectively working. Aroused and much more at ease with him than she had been before when he held her during her slumber. Whatever it was haunting her in her unconsciousness, he couldn’t entirely read her mind off of her like an open book, but a good estimation would confirm that through the minute tics and instinctive and defensive body gestures, there had been some kind of assault or even abuse. The Russian laboratory wasn’t free of many accusations and controversies regarding coming up with most time-warped, radical and progressive ideas, springing out like mushrooms and although he wasn’t completely aware of the mechanics and scientists’ whereabouts and their processes, one thing had been sure. Just like those mass-produced androids used like pawns of war, the little of the elite human race contributing the firepower and brainpower had been corrupted and tainted. Sure had been the patent war of the century had its share of turns and counters, no doubt it hurt the mankind’s innate nature, as well as the obvious concept of it itself. As they both had been the most wanted by the Russian S.R.C. and knowing both of them could be swept off their feet to be presented upon like the most covetous prize of war as their allies stabbed them in the back, in the midst of the most crucial lab in Bern, he would be recalcitrant. Proving that their stance had been the correct one and those who dissent would be properly put to extinction. They will prove to be superior and overthrow the authority to throne Gabi as the suitable individual in charge and to vindicate the androids. 

A hand still holding and planting her in the place, sealing them into an invisible mold, another hand moves near where his lips had been molded in the shape of elongated almond, where the peak of her sex flutters as his talented tongue caresses the velvety flesh. Even with the absence of pleasure nerves to make his erection stiffen, the veiling water caressing the synthetic skin, as light as gossamer as endless trails roll off his broad shoulders and dip of the expanse of his back. Each moan propels his tongue to stretch her tight walls, probing with gentle swirl of his tongue, the tip tasting the familiar saltiness as his hypersensitive body takes in every infinitesimal twitches and paroxysms of her walls. The muscles tense and relax, her heartbeat carries through as he works into her slowly, taking all the time in the world. Contrary to how he likes to carry himself on the battlefield, hard and fast, immediately going in for the kill, he savors every hitch and affectionate caress from her. As he never ran out of breath due to his arc reactor controlling the flow of the fluids through sophisticated pathways of the nanotubes, unless he had been engaged in combat with imminent danger of jeopardizing the destruction upon his exoskeleton and all the inner workings, he parts just in enough time to take in her words. Allowing him to take her anytime he wants confirms a bit of remission on her part. The horrendous memory might still scar her to a certain degree, but knowing that someone,  _ a human _ , considered him endearing and lovely had felt like coming out of a dire straits. Perhaps in the end, his innate side had indeed won over, he was just  _ a human without a real heart _ , wanting to be drunk with love and heal his brokenness. 

Tracing the outline of her clitoris and along the bump, he takes a whiff to take in her unique scent as he offers his own response. “ _ Cred că știu ce s-ar fi următoarea actualizare _ .” After touch, its most closest association would naturally be the pleasure stimuli, which means with that crucial and substantial upgrade, myriads of emotion will flood inside him as well.  _ joy and contentment _ ,  _ without being aseptic with exuberant energy _ . Their bond strengthened as they prepare for the invasion, the provocateur having provided the means and opportunity. His flat tongue covering more area as his fingers gently mark crescent shapes along her torso, adding more invigoration. Just right amount of breath, at least what he could do is to let the faintly whirring sphere column on his chest to revolve around a bit faster, the purring echoing as the ambiance mimics that of a subterranean cavern; continuous dripping of water, the heated steam cocooning them whole along with more wet viscous fluid seeping out of her as building anticipation and his own enthusiasm soars like coordinates of a curved graph. “It doesn’t surprise me one bit that the creator and created eventually come across their paths. Let’s not call it a serendipity, but a destined move, who knew I would be the recipient of the blessing, I had always thought this was a fucking curse until this very moment.” Fingers curved in, he perforates through the tight walls, alternating between the digits to feel the exquisite warmth surround and pool over. It deluges faster than the whirling water swerving around their mingled bodies and even more quicker to replace it.  


	31. Chapter 31

Breathlessly she agrees with Nigel. “Da , da, care va fi prima actualizare nou .” Oh yes, he was right the next upgrade will include the emotion joy. It would allow him to feel pleasure along with his new found touch. She also planned to look into how he would be able to penetrate her, and see if there had to be adjustments made. This was completely new to her, when she was in the SRC. All of her time was spent building and working on androids for war. It was exciting to be able to do something less destructive with Nigel, they say make love not war, oh how very true. With both hands clinging to his hair, nails digging into his scalp, she can feel how close she is. Never in her life had she been brought to orgasm so quickly, and it was intense. There was so many sensations, and his tongue, oh fuck, his tongue. If he hadn’t been holding on to her, she would have fallen to her knees. “If you are this good with your tongue… I can’t imagine what sex with you will be like…” She was panting and clutching at him like he was her only lifeline. With him stroking and flicking the flat of his tongue against her clit, she can feel herself be pushed over the edge. Not able to hold back, she feel her orgasm hit like lapping waves, over and over.   

“Oh fuck…” she shook all over and she was overly sensitive to the touch. He was teasing her still, and she wriggled madly, in his grasp trying to get away. “No… stop, enough… ha… I can’t” she was laughing and squirming around. It was too much all at once, and he was torturing her by doing that. When he finally stopped, she was like jelly. She slithered to the floor of the stall onto her knees joining him. Wrapping her arms around him tight, she planted a rough kiss to his mouth, tasting herself on his lips. It was very odd kissing him, it wasn’t like humans, but at the same times it wasn’t different at all. The synthetic skin was velvety and smooth, almost like a newborn’s skin. It was so soft and kissable, she couldn’t stop herself from reaching up and touching a fingertip to the curve of his elegant mouth. “I needed that… and you are… fan-fucking-tastic. I hope you know, and I don’t know how I didn’t notice before, but you have the most gorgeous lips.” She was veering into nerdy territory, and starting to ramble. So she closed her mouth, and just stared at him, while water beat against her back. Her whole body was flushed, and still throbbing from her release, and she really needed to wash up and get something. She had a lot of work ahead of her, and having at least one good meal in her would do wonders. “I’m gonna wash, and maybe get something to eat. I’m really hungry.” As if on cue her stomach growled, and embarrassed she stood up, and helped him stand.

In comfortable silence, they finished washing up, and got out of the shower, before they pruned. The whole time she kept giving Nigel little glances, under fluttery eyelashes. She couldn’t help but think, even as an android, he was indeed the most beautiful man she ever saw. He was so fucking handsome, with unique ashen hair, and insanely prominent features, of course those god damn lips. She could get lost in those eyes too, they were very fitting for him, and they were like a giant wild cat staring back at her. Before today, she just was very business like with him, her nerdy geek mechanic side didn’t allow her to grow too attached to her creations. It was a flaw in her system, because she knew that once she became attracted to something, that was it. No going back, and it didn’t matter what it was, whether it was Decebal or Scuzzy, and now more than ever Nigel. She was in deep now, there was an unbreakable bond between them. Her mind kept going over all the things she had to do yet to upgrade Nigel, she didn’t want to disappoint him. After they got out of the shower, she cheerfully made him hold still, while she dried his hair, and fawned all over him. She couldn’t help, but to check inside and go over the repairs she had made, looking at how they held up. Fingers traced over his skin, feelings for bumps, and anything out of order. Cheeks all rosy, and blushing, she even examined his penis, checking just how anatomically correct he really was. “Don’t worry I’m just looking…”  

___

It wouldn’t be productive to futilely trying to match her breathless pants, as his own merely begins to whirl and purr with continuous, steady rhythm. Not a beat out of whack. Controlled and calm as ever, although the human counterpart within the brain is the only place where the synapses flare and sparks fly like thrown confetti pieces. His ultimate reason for existence nullified with the sense of touch. Her confirmation urges him to stimulate her engorged folds further. Like candle wick burning, there’s no stopping it as her involuntary spasms and fluttering contraction hurtles him out the orbital gravity. Without analyzing and drawing figures through rationalization, it would be infallible distinguishable factor that separate him way beyond any other android, attempting to get closer to humanoid form. A harbinger of another race, entirely different from pure human and android. Even with his stark division of pros and cons, it would divert him from being a mindless war-machine that would serve as a singular purpose. He would protect the sprouting furor with all his might, as his mind had been rote and arid - even when he had been Captain Nigel Lecter, he had been proceeding every matter with machine-like precision and repetitious procedures. It had been muddy, ill-seeming with looming stress of victories and bereft of beauty in all things. Devoid of compassion and sympathy for all moving things except his true allies. Then, things had been more straightforward without exposed corruptions and days when he himself saw androids as mere metal scraps belonging to salvage yards and parts of supporting infrastructures, serving people and assigning them secondary functions. 

He could feel her pelvic floor muscles ripple and tremor like aftershock as the gentle flutter radiates against the expanse of his chiseled face, the intensity of her unique scents and wetness, slick and pearly as the ardent pleasure washes over her as stream of secretion pours over, the texture akin to the fluids coursing through his endoskeleton.  _ How could he abandon all the greenery that had been flourishing and abandoned under his care? _ Half-blinking through the clear viscosity spurt over him, he bequeaths all, wanting what it seems to be so close to an elation he had felt over all these years to last in perpetuity. With added caress of the water conjoining them, his arm slithers upward to fondle her breasts, as he reciprocates the intensity of the lip-lock, whirling arc reactor mimics the breathy sound as it purrs, gradually ticking like a metronome. The newly grown skin is rosebud in its complexion, puckered up, prominently arched like a composite bow. His newly set, hooded gaze turns both gentle and mesmerizing at the same time, drawing her in. “I’m sure whoever managed to steal your fucking spotlight did an impeccable job of reconstructing what they had. I am positively sure when I had looked more like a ripe avocado mashed with another, more firmer one.” It’s a vanishing recollection of his haunted past, only existing in yellowed, burnt creases of the previous chapter of his life, more like a denouement of it. 

Pulling himself up from the tiles and savoring the lingering taste of her, a particularly dense essence clinging onto the inner skin of his bottom lip, lips soon thin and curve up into an easy grin at the mention of substantial food. “Speaking of that, I was going to rummage through your kitchen and cook  _ ciorbă de pui _ in how I used to do when we dug trenches to settle in for the night.” He had used scraps of mesh from destroyed inner workings of androids, using their seamless plates as bowls, then would utilize the demolished building to build a makeshift furnace to heat up large batches of soup with provided rations. “I am not fond of cooking, too much fucking haunting memories of allies dying, perishing at such a fruitful age and seen to much horribleness, but this dish holds dear to my heart and I am, after all, a master of one-pot wonders.” Allowing her to wipe him clean as they make it back outside the bathroom, he hadn’t registered that his synthetic skin really resembled all the closeness to a human skin. Although the layer had been separated by almost indestructible exoskeleton holding everything in its place and vein-like nanotubes aiding and encouraging regeneration as bundles connected within the central hard drive, the upgrade had made his copper-toned skin indistinguishable from that of human’s, almost without any imperfections and blemishes. “If you wish to scrutinize me further and figure out extraneous upgrades, I am sure you would want to touch me.” Almost snatching her arm and putting her hand over his penis in a straightforward manner, he gives her a curious tilt of his head, scanning her within. “Your menstruation cycle isn’t even fucking close, so you shouldn’t be this horny, but you are. How long have you been sexually inactive? and since when did you have a ‘thing’ for me?” He wouldn’t be this blunt without sounding a bit removed with his face gradually growing impassive, in contrast to a slight amusement from his human side.      


	32. Chapter 32

“I would love to see what you can cook, I would be honored. If it’s too much for you, don’t push yourself for me.” While she wasn’t the best of cooks, she did try once in awhile to make something that wasn’t junk food. Never once had she seem an android cook before, or even heard of one being able to do so. Getting to see that with her own two eyes would have been worth anything good or bad that he could make. In the SRC, it had been mostly rations and cafeteria food, after a while everything started to taste the same. When she got taken in by the A.I.A.D. group she got to taste fresh food for the first time five years. It was so wonderful, she had eaten so much her first week here. “I didn’t start to learn how to cook, until I came here… it wasn’t something they taught us in the SRC. So I’m still new at it.” she finished up examining Nigel, and closed him back up. She would have to monitor his vitals and functionality during some intimate moments to check to make sure the upgrades she did to him would take. Now that would be an interesting test… and in the laboratory too… one that she wouldn’t mind doing at all.  After she wasn’t touching him anymore, she wanted to get dressed, but her mouth hung open at his jaw dropping remarks.

She couldn’t help stare where he had placed her hand, and she slowly took her hand back. With a narrow eyed look she tried to read his impassive face, but it gave nothing away. “I-I… I don’t know know how to answer that. I mean… It’s been a while I suppose since I’ve had sex at all.” she scratched her nose wanting to change the subject. He said it like he was surprised that she liked him. It kind of made her feel bad and hoped that he didn’t think she only ‘had a thing’ for him because of sex. “I’ve liked you since the beginning, only I tend to get a little one track minded when it comes to my work.” she looked at the floor and pulled away to get dressed. It wasn’t just recently that she had feelings for him, she supposed she did since she first laid eyes on him. Work always seemed to get in the way, and while working for the rebel lab, she didn’t really have free time of her own. “I guess now that I’m not working in the other lab, I have a free moment to be myself and do things other than work.” she had tossed on a pair of baggy cargo pants and a man’s white tank top. It was very rare that she even wore women’s clothing at all, and this was normal every stuff for her. Most of her things got covered up with coveralls anyways. The house which had been well lived in when she was given it, had closets full of clothing of different sizes, men’s and women’s alike.

As a distraction she rifled through the closet in her room, and found some things that looked like it would fit Nigel. Carrying the arm full of things out of the walk-in, she dumped them on the bed. It was a huge pile of things, old things mostly. “For the record, I love you no matter what. I did have a hand in your… whatever” she waved a hand in a small circle not sure what word to use, birth, creation, resurrection… they all sounded kind of odd to her. With a start she realized that she just told Nigel that she loved him, and her cheeks burned with pride and a little embarrassment. She wasn’t ashamed of it, and it was no surprise, parents loved their children the moment that come into the world, there was no reason she couldn’t feel the same about Nigel. They shared a deep connection that was akin to the bond parents share with their offspring. “Yes… I said it. I love you, and I mean it. You are very important to me, and I’m happy to have you in my life.” Her world a lot less bleak and lonely with him around. Holding up a black short-sleeved button down shirt, she laid it across his chest to check to see if it would fit. “This looks nice, why don’t you try this on for me? You need some normal clothes, not those scrubs from the lab.” Throwing clothes every where she looked for a pair of pants, or slacks that would look good on him. He was so damn handsome, that pretty much everything would look good on him. With a grin, she tossed a pair of black slacks at him. “What do you think Tinman?”

___

A minute roll of shoulders, and he stacks on the gesture by shrugging with slightly ajar lips. “Nothing particularly special. You get thrown out in the wilderness with fucking food rations and divvying up what little you have of the fresh ingredients, then you get yourself a marginally pleasurable meal only to be compared by the prisoner’s last meal.” He can’t not take into a consideration that her reaffirmation would be as raw and genuine, if the attraction had been mutual. There is still a looming sense of apprehension in his still expressionless face. At least from his side of things, of course, there had been pre-installed software that wiped out most of all the missions he had gotten from Russian SRC, minus few life-altering ones such as the one where he saw Gabi’s father’s corpse becoming one with the rubble of the desolate city of Bucharest and where he would get incapacitated and on the verge of death, not too long after. “I’ve had my share of fucking speculations and skepticism. Most people see what’s outside, the destructive army of one, or better, a stealthy assassin who gets his work done no matter what the fuck goes wrong. I’ve died once, declared fucking dead on the spot, only to be lulled into a induced coma, then what can I lose, that’s why I hadn’t thought your love hadn’t been genuine.” When his appearance hadn’t been perfected and there was a stark distinguishing features that separated him from the human counterpart, he had grown so paranoid over the fact that someone was out to get him all the time. He had been going through the transitory phase, so he needed sleep for memories to become concrete. With haunting memories droning him like a colony of wasps, which resulted him to grow irritable and drowsy, with the addition of chronic itchiness from the nanotubes merging his human cells with fluids and more inflammation rampant all over the synthetic skin, which hadn’t been seamless and so human-like at that time.

Sleep deprived and groggy, there had been period when he had been bitter and depressed, always brooding with the vain of his existence. A soldier transformed into an incapacitated, nonfunctional pastiche of rag doll without any purpose and task assigned to him. There would be no shedding tears nor any company that would offer him solace and comfort. His superior had passed away long ago and most of his allies and subordinates had been assigned to a different sectors of the country, in relentless expansion. He always reminded himself that his willpower was stronger than mere depression and he was more braver than loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust him. Which meant he had been out of practice with fornication himself for considerable duration and had been rusty. With the pleasure stimuli uninstalled inside his system, authenticating and solidifying what just happened in the bathroom is as arduous a task as one of the most unethical, yet the act that brought his existence. Working as a cyber espionage as he saw his opportunity, who would’ve thought the unprecedented turn of events would lead them here? “There was a time I fucking abhorred the creator. I thought I would rather die than living as someone else’s trophy nor being turned into a mindless machine only capable of one prominent emotion.” Torn apart between feeling awed and a bit anxious at a bit of revelation, a broad peak into the most human part of his recollection, his gleaning outline of the pupils flash with blinding blue before they begin to dart, the pupils widening along with his expressive stare. “I thought you weren’t that different from other countless mechanic scientists. Only in it for gaining their fame, bunch of fucking cowardly chickens. Letting all the androids do their legwork and grunt work while they excuse themselves behind almost indestructible fortification.” 

A more easy grin spreads over like the peak of sunrise breaking the heavy-set tranquility of the night at her attestation. “Well, in that regard, you did touch me down there, my junk and all that. The official record would say it otherwise. I think I would definitely like to reverse and legitimately change that.” Arms clasped behind his body as his head lifts with her profession, he walks briskly in long strides, observing her with a curious tilt of his head. “All the fucking love aside, I would most love it if I can get you out of that spectacularly horrible attire you just have donned yourself.” Abruptly stopping in front of her with his face mere an inch or two away from hers, his downward gaze catches just enough of her flesh underneath the garment. A mischievous narrowing of his eye follows, the hazel intensifying as the offsetting blue makes the pupils appear much darker with penetrative gaze. Backing up slightly as she puts the shirt over his frame, fingers curl around the collar as he snakes both of his arms inside, thrusting it with a swift motion. Then his nimble fingers are quick to fasten the buttons with one hand. “Exactly my words, my primary agenda item would be to gather all those ugly-ass coveralls and all those bleak shit and blast them away.” Catching the pants in mid-air, he inspects them before wearing. “A bit tight around thighs and groin, but no matter. As long as they don’t pop open to create any distraction for this naughty girl who cannot wait someone to fuck her.” Feeling much more like his old self, the particular outfit fits him like a glove on his synthetic skin and the hem just covers the slight curve of his ass, which means there’s a thin stripe of exposed skin around his prominent hipbones. “You sneaky little brat. I’ll get all the fucking ingredients ready and all, why don’t you get that closet straightened and meet you downstairs, darling?”     


End file.
